The Psychological Effects Of Mental Depression

Evan Perry suffered from bipolar disorder since his birth. As a child he was erratic, angry and violent, and then, as if a switch had been flipped, he’d be overwhelming sad. He was medicated at age seven and at 10 he was finally diagnosed with BD. After spending years on the drug Lithium he decided, at age 15, to lower the dose and later go off it all together. His condition was too bad, though, and he became overwhelming depressed and sullen. His parents decided to make an appointment with his psychiatrist to prescribe the Lithium again, declaring that “the experiment didn’t work.” The appointment was on October 4, 2005. On October 2, at a family dinner, Evan and his mother got into a fight which she described as “very intense.” “I was doing

In the case of Howard v. Delaware, Howard, a thirty- two-year-old truck driver convicted of sexual assault against his former co-worker Stacy, suffers from mood disorders. From the summary presented it is evident that he suffers from bipolar disorder, a form of mood disorder. Mood disorders have both a depressive and manic episode. In the depressive episode, over a two-week period an individual has either a depressed mood or anhedonia, which is a lack of positive mood or a loss of interest or pleasure. Other symptoms include an increase or decrease of the individuals weight, an increase of sleep or little to no sleep at all, fatigue or lack of energy, feelings of worthlessness, diminished ability to think or to concentrate, and thoughts of committing suicide. In a manic episode, individuals have a period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood and goal directed activity or energy over a span of one week. Symptoms of a manic episode include dissociative speech, decreased need for sleep, racing of thoughts, grandiosity, and distractibility.

Ellen Waters meets criteria for a diagnosis of Bipolar II Disorder (296.89), current episode depressed with atypical features, mild severity. There are several things in her case that make this diagnosis clear. She reports chronic depression throughout her life, but she also describes “highs” consisting of elevated mood lasting for several months at a time during which she functions on little sleep and gets a lot done, runs up high telephones bills talking to people, and experiences racing thoughts. Additionally, she reports that her friends have obviously concerned about her abrupt changes of behavior from her depressive norm, and would often tell her that she needed to slow down or calm down. All of these are consistent with hypomania and she lacks some of the hallmarks of mania—she is still able to function at work and socially for the most part, she has not needed to be hospitalized as a result of her “highs” and she has not experienced any psychosis—thus ruling out a Bipolar I diagnosis. She is currently experiencing a depressed mood and panic attacks, which is the reason why she has been referred for treatment. She states that she was depressed for most of the month prior to this visit.

Diagnostic Features: The essential feature of Bipolar II Disorder is a clinical course that is characterized by the occurrence of one or more Major Depressive Episodes (Criterion A) accompanied by at least one Hypomanic Episode (Criterion B) Hypomanic Episodes should not be confused with the several days of euthymia that may follow remission of a Major Depressive Episode. The presence of a Manic or Mixed Episode precludes the diagnosis of Bipolar II Disorder (Criterion C).

In the movie Silver Linings Playbook, we follow Pat Solitano Jr., a man recently released from a mental institution (Cohen et al., 2012). He is a Caucasian male, likely in his early to mid-thirties and of Italian descent. He was a high school history teacher, living with his wife, Nikki, an English teacher. Upon finding his wife in the shower with another man, he nearly beats the man to death leading him to be sent to a psychiatric facility for eight months with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. In this essay I will support the diagnosis of a Bipolar I disorder. A diagnosis of Bipolar I disorder, has specific criteria in the DSM-V that have to be met. I will be listing the criteria and through examples of Pat’s actions, thoughts and behaviours, he meets the criteria.

Mental illness affects 1 in 5 adults in the United States. This amounts to about 43.8 million or 18.5% of adults in the United States ("Any Mental Illness Among U.S Adults," n.d). This shows how prevalent mental illness really is in our society. More specifically, Bipolar Disorder is found in about 2.6% of the adult population ("Bipolar Disorder Among Adults," n.d). Bipolar disorder ranges in severity but the majority of the cases are considered severe. Bipolar Disorder is broken down into three categories as follows: Bipolar I, Bipolar II, and Cyclothymic Disorder. For the duration of the paper, Bipolar I Disorder will be referenced. Bipolar disorder is characterized by manic episodes that may alternate with depression or agitation. The etiology of Bipolar Disorder is biological and environmental. It is a strongly heritable disease at approximately 80-90% heritability. Bipolar Disorder is related to neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin and their dysregulation in the body. Excessive amounts may lead to mania while too few may lead to depression. Environmental stressors or trauma also contribute to the development of bipolar disorder (Halter, 2014). The patient that will be discussed in this paper is a forty-one year old African American woman who was involuntary committed to Montgomery County Emergency Services (MCES) as a result of severe mania and psychotic symptoms.

Bipolar II disorder is primarily characterized by states of hypomania and depression, which often impair a person’s ability to function in a social, work, or familial setting. Depression is more often an impairment than hypomania, and is frequently the reason a person might seek counseling.

During his periods of excessive energy and impulsive decisions, Mr. Z demonstrated multiple signs of bipolar disorder. DSM-5 distinguishes two different kinds of bipolar disorders. Bipolar I disorder is a type of bipolar disorder marked by full maniac and major depressive disorder. People who have this disorder shift back and forth between extreme moods. The behavior is usually very active, almost to where they feel like they need to stay on the move because they are running out of time. “…flamboyance is not uncommon.” (pg.421) Mr. Z showed mad impulsive decisions such as taking trips, participating in rare activities, and buying expensive pieces of land. Without treatment, these mood episodes can continue to reoccur throughout the life of the individual.

JD describes this experience in the interview as a very religious experience. “I believed I was hearing from God and he had given me meanings to things others could not see.” JD explains that others around him noticed his odd behavior even though he did not think him as acting odd because he had an explanation for why he was doing everything he was doing. He describes this time as very frustrating and lonely. “I felt like no could understand me.” After JD left the hospital, two weeks later, he was still have manic thoughts and experiencing depressive moods. He was self admitted to an inpatient care facility where he stayed for another 3 months out of concern for his safety and safety of others. JD says he hated that part. The facility was full of people that were a lot “crazier” then him, he says “it was not a good environment for me to be in in tht state of mind, if it did anything it taught me how to fake being happy so I could get out of there, because being locked up with those people made me feel worse then when I went in.” After he came out of the hospital things didn’t become normal for him until about three months after that. For the next almost nine years he was fine having normal moods accourding to the situation and living life. He found a career , got married to his wife and lived with her in a apartment not far from where he was attending college at the time the second episode

In addition to the client’s diagnoses of Borderline Personality Disorder and Specific Substance Use Disorder, Suzy also shows symptoms of Bipolar Disorder; however, a diagnosis could not be made. The client shows Bipolar Disorder symptoms; such as rapid shifts in mood, engaging in risky or dangerous behaviors, thoughts of committing suicide, and excessive spending. Despite the symptoms displayed the client was unaware of her last manic episode. Individuals diagnosed with this disorder should meet the criteria for a hypomanic episode and manic episode; however, Cathy did not meet the requirement for a manic episode and lacked some criteria for hypomanic. Suzy’s lack of previous and present manic episodes exclude her from meet this diagnosis.

Rationale: Kevin is exuding symptoms of moderate Bipolar II Disorder (Basco Ramirez & Rush, 2007). He experiences major depressive episodes, such as the one on his honeymoon, where he has a hard time getting out of bed and functioning as an adult. On other occasions, he experiences waves of hypnomania in which he feels as though he is on top of the world. Kevin’s depressive moods last for days, marked with diminished interest in pleasure and feelings of fatigue, even when his life circumstances should have him feeling happy and elated. His waves of hypnomania seem to last a little bit longer than his bouts of major depression. One of his hypnomanic states was even long enough to convince Mary to marry him. Despite their length, Kevin’s hypnomania doesn’t reach manic proportions really interfere with his daily functioning like his depressive episodes do; therefore, it is more likely that he is suffering from bipolar II disorder and not bipolar I.

The next part of the experiment was to identify which disorder Del suffered from, which I deduced was Bipolar disorder (as was explained in the intro). It was explained that since Del suffers from both manic and depressive episodes, the answer is Bipolar disorder since depression only includes depressive episodes, while Bipolar disorder includes depressive and manic episodes.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (the DSM-V), “Bipolar II disorder is characterized by a clinical course of recurring mood episodes consisting of one or more major depressive episode and at least one hypomanic episode. During the mood episode(s), the requisite number of symptoms must be present most of the day, nearly every day, and represent a noticeable change from usual behavior and functioning” (APA, 2013). Essentially, Bipolar II Disorder is characterized by hypomanic and depressive episodes throughout a person’s

George was diagnosed with Bipolar I Disorder, severe with mood-congruent psychotic features. Previously to being admitted to the hospital, George experienced his first serious depressive episode in college. He began to lose interest in everything, including his friends, girlfriend, and sports. Soon he began taking taking antidepressant medication and attending individual counseling sessions and was back to normal within several weeks. However, his symptoms for bipolar disorder came back over time (see below). While in college, he also experienced manic episodes. He was described as having periods of unusual ambition and energy. However, these symptoms went undiagnosed because his excess verbosity, his lack of need for sleep, and his ambitious goals did not seem pathological. This was due to the fact that his energy was productive, and probably adaptive in the competitive university environment. 8 months before his current state, George experienced yet another depressive episode. He began to worry excessively about his team and had trouble sleeping but felt tired all the time. His mood changed from tension and anxiety to severe depression. He began to blame himself for

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “Bipolar disorder also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.” As Andrew Laeddis is assigned to investigate the death of Rachel Solodon, He begins to experience headaches, and mood shifts. His