What Bipolar I Disorder ( Bd )

Walking down the street, everyone seems to go about their business, not taking the time to look at others around them and see the potential suffering that could be occurring. While reading Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison, it became clear how frightful it is to travel through life with Bipolar disorder. Kay began as a child growing up within a household of mental illness without knowledge until she was much older. Yet at the age of fifteen she did know that her sister had an “enormous artistic imagination and soul” (Jamison 15). This included having raging anger at different times co-occurring with her father's increased negative behavior of depression, rage and drinking after he retired and they moved. In California, Kay had to recreate

The purpose of this essay is to explain the definitions of mental health, mental illness and psychiatric disability, using bipolar disorder as an example to illustrate these points. Bipolar disorder will also be used to explain the concepts of the medical and social models of disability, highlight the influence these two models could have on people with the disorder and the experiences they might encounter. There will be a focus on some of the experiences a person suffering from mental illness might have in society, the effect these experiences can have on an individual and the influence of stigmas and stereotypes. This leads to the final discussion point, the action of self-disablement. This section discusses how a person with a mental health issue can be influenced by labels, stigmas and stereotypes, and how this can stop them from seeking help and achieving their goals.

Some signs and symptoms of a manic episode are: increased energy, activity, and restlessness; excessively high, overly good, euphoric mood; racing thoughts and talking fast, jumping from one idea to another; distractibility or lack of concentration; spending sprees; poor judgment; increased sex drive; and denial that anything is wrong (Nevid, Rathus, & Greene, 2006). A manic episode is diagnosed if elevated mood occurs with three or more of the other symptoms most of the day, nearly every day, for one week or longer (Psychology Today, 2011). If the mood is irritable, four additional symptoms must be present.

Bipolar Disorder is a brain disorder that is characterized by abnormal changes in mood, energy and activity levels (“National Institute of Mental Health”). Manic-depressive illness is also another name that bipolar disorder is commonly referred to as (“National Institute of Mental Health”). This disorder has four basic types including, bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymic, and any other which do not perfectly fit the first three. All four of the types have episodes of extreme highs, manic periods, and extreme lows, depressive periods. Symptoms can range greatly and depend on what type of episode the affected is having. Manic episodes can include, but are not limited to: having extraordinarily high amounts of energy, activity,

While having a manic phase people with bipolar disorder cannot control themselves, their behaviors, they do not feel sleepy or tired, they are very involved in activities, and they can be very hyper , they can have very elevated mood.

Mental illness has plagued human kind for as long as we have been on this earth. The science of psychology has made great strides in past century. The stigma of being mentally ill has begun to fall away and people are finally starting to get the help that they need to recover. Bipolar disorder is one illness that we have come to more fully understand. Through assistance from a psychiatrist, family and medication a patient with bipolar disorder can enter remission and live a normal life.

This book was very inspirational. It is not only inspiring to people with bipolar disorder but to all other people that are suffering from any kind of mental illness. It also speaks to people that do not have a mental illness by giving them and inside look of what someone’s life is like and how they deal with their problems. The book shows how not only is life possible with mental illness but that it is also worth living.

For an episode to be categorized as manic, the patients’ mood has been irritable or abnormally elevated for at least 1 week. A person must also exhibit at least 3 of the following symptoms (4 if the mood is only irritable): extreme feelings of personal greatness; a decreased need for sleep, marked talkativeness; distractibility; extreme focus on a goal-directed activity; reports of ‘racing’ thoughts or a flight of ideas; or excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high potential for painful consequences (i.e. sexual indiscretions or unintelligent business investments). As in the criteria for a depressed episode, the DSM-IV specifies that these symptoms should not be better explained as being a side effect of a drug or illness to qualify as a manic episode. These symptoms must interfere with the person’s normal functioning and must not meet the criteria for a mixed episode. As with adults, childhood-onset bipolar disorder has many faces. Children with Bipolar I Disorder have episodes of mania and episodes of depression, sometimes there are long periods of normal moods between episodes. Adults usually tend to have more depressed episodes than manic episodes. However, some children will have chronic mania (symptoms of mania lasting for long periods of time or marked by frequent recurrence) and seldom experience a depressed episode.

A manic episode is characterized by an abnormality of mood that is euphoric, expansive, and elevated or irritable with increased energy, along with signs and symptoms such as inflated self-esteem or grandiosity, decreased need for sleep. Pressure of speech or being extremely talkative, racing thoughts or flight of ideas, distractibility, an increase in goal-directed behavior, agitation, poor judgment and impulsive decision making are more signs and symptoms of a manic episode. A manic episode can result in unwise and potentially dangerous behavior. Destructive behaviors can often occur with spending money, sexual

There is a dark stigma surrounding mental illness in general, and bipolar disorder is no exception. According to the Mental Health Commission of Western Australia, a stigma is “a mark of disgrace that sets someone apart.” Bipolar disorder is incredibly misunderstood by society at large, which leads to this stigma, prejudice, and discrimination. In everyday conversation, the word “bipolar” is frequently used to describe how someone is feeling at that moment. If a person is sad one moment and

The National Institute of Mental Health describes bipolar I disorder as the occurrence of manic episodes that can last up to seven days, or experiencing a state of mania so severe that one must be hospitalized. With manic episodes, it is common to experience depressive symptoms as well, which can last two weeks or more. The NIMH defines bipolar II disorder as a pattern of depressive episodes with the addition of hypomanic episodes, which are not as intense and distressing as the manic episodes in bipolar I disorder. During a manic episode one might be experiencing feelings of having a lot of energy, feeling jumpy or wired, talking fast about a variety of topics, racing thoughts, and wanting to do risky things. During an episode of depression,

Before I truly understood Bipolar disorder, it was still a fairly common word in my vocabulary. Anytime I thought someone was being moody or fluctuating between emotions, I joked by claiming that person to be bipolar. Several incidents of this involved one of my roommates who seemed to be happy one day, and quite the polar opposite the next. However, it was not until my clinical experience on the psychiatric unit that I realized what true bipolar disorder was, and that she did not fit the criteria. Even though I always thought my roommate was bipolar, I quickly found after being exposed to a diagnosed bipolar patient that my roommate was instead just moody. I decided to write this paper on bipolar disorder, not because I have struggle with it or know a friend or family member with this disease, but because I had several misconceptions about what it entailed.

Bipolar disorder, or manic depressive disorder, is a disorder characterized by extreme mood changes. People with this disorder undergo unusual shifts in his or her mood, activity levels, energy and the ability to carry out daily activities (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.). A person can go from being very outgoing and energetic to feeling irritated and worthless over a period of a few days, months, or even years. People with bipolar disorder experience “mood episodes”, represented by a drastic change in a person’s unusual mood or behavior (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.). A manic episode he or she may experience is overexcited and overly joyful; however, someone in a

A manic episode is defined as a distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood lasting at least one week that includes symptoms such as inflated self-esteem, impulsive behavior, increased rate of speech, and decreased need for sleep. As the term bipolar disorder suggests, afflicted individuals also experience the opposite of mania – depression. The result is an oscillation between extreme mood states that is often accompanied by severe distress and impairment and requires