What Is Bipolar Disorder?

There are four types of mood episodes in bipolar disorder: mania, hypomania, depression, and mixed episodes. Each mood episode comes with a series of symptoms. In the manic phase of bipolar disorder, feelings of increased energy and extreme happiness are the most common. People who are experiencing a manic episode often cannot stop talking, their talking is fast and very hard to understand, they sleep very little, and are very hyperactive. They feel they are invincible and can do anything in the world. Hypomania is a less severe type of mania.

Bipolar disorder, also commonly referred to as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual and heightened swings in a person’s mood, energy level, and ability to function. The symptoms of bipolar disorder can be severe and therefore, they are quite different from the normal shifts in mood that everyone goes through on a daily basis. The effects of bipolar disorder can result in broken relationships, poor performance at work or school, self-mutilation, and even suicide. However, in most instances, bipolar disorder can be treated and people with this illness can lead normal and productive lives with the help of medication and therapy.

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness in which common emotions become intensely and often unpredictably magnified. Individuals with bipolar disorder can quickly swing from extremes of happiness, energy and clarity to sadness, fatigue and confusion. Bipolar disorder more commonly develops in older teenagers and young adults; it can appear in children as 6. The exact cause of bipolar disorder is unknown; there are two types of this disease:

Despite the similarities, there are more common symptoms in bipolar depression than it is in regular depression. For example, bipolar depression has individuals feeling guilty, hopeless, sad, empty, unpredictable mood swings, and feelings of restlessness. People with bipolar depression also tend to move very slow, gain weight, and sleep a lot (Hatchett). On the other hand the hypomania state has led observers to feel that bipolar patients are "addicted" to their mania. Paranoia or irritable characteristics begin to manifest in this stage. Hyperactive behavior can sometimes lead to violence and speech becomes very rapid (Hirschfeld, 1995). A mixed episode is when you have both manic and depressive symptoms at the same time. According to Hirschfield, “Those afflicted are a special risk because there is a combination of hopelessness, agitation, and anxiety that makes them feel like they,” “could jump out of their skin” (Hirschfeld, 1995). Up to 50% of all patients with mania have a mixture of depressed moods. This episode is considered very dangerous because individuals feel as if they could commit suicide.

Hormonal imbalances are also believed to be a trigger for bipolar disorder, as well as traumatic stress, such as the death of a loved one, rape, moving, or losing your job, home, and possessions.

The second episode is depressive or depression stage. This episode includes a long period of feeling worried or empty, such as lost of interest in activities once enjoyed. During a manic episode the patient will show signs of talking very fast, being overly distracted, sleeping for 2 hours and feeling really rested, or the patient might even find him or herself quitting a job for no reason, some of the patients experimenting this episode can also charge up huge amounts in their credit cards. During a depressive episode the patient might feel like sleeping for hours or not sleeping at all, also everything people do affects them. Patients with bipolar disorder often go through depression more then they go through a manic episode. These episodes of bipolar disorder can last up for days, weeks, or even months. Patients experiencing these mood swings are not the same as experiencing everyday mood swings; the mood swings of bipolar patients are very severe that they interfere sometimes with the ability to function with their everyday life.

It is primarily a biological illness. However, its onset is often linked to stressful life events. There are a number of factors that are believed to play a role in developing bipolar disorder Including genetics, brain chemicals, environmental factors and sometimes medical illnesses.

Bipolar disorder is characterised by episodes of mania or hypomania (overactivity, insomnia, inability to concentrate, irritability, excitement, euphoria and delusions) and depression

One of my closest friends during my undergraduate career has a mental illness called bipolar. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, bipolar is defined as a chronic mental illness that causes a range of different shifts in mood, energy, activity occurrence, and the ability to function and carry out the day to day tasks (National Institute of Mental Health, 2016). Bipolar disorder is also known as a manic depressive illness due to the shifts in mood. People with bipolar often experience lows and highs. Research substantiates that there is no clear cause for bipolar, but there are many factors that contribute to the likelihood of a person developing bipolar.

Bipolar I can have some very frightening characteristics of psychosis (loss of contact with reality). These may include: hallucinations (hearing or seeing things that are not there), delusions (persistent beliefs in things that are not true), and paranoia (believing that a person or group is actively working to harm you, without any basis in fact). These psychotic features are also characteristic of schizophrenia, a mental illness where the patient is out of touch with reality, but without mood swings. Bridging the space between bipolar disorder and schizophrenia is schizoaffective disorder. What distinguishes schizoaffective disorder from Bipolar I with psychotic features is that sometimes (for at least two weeks) the patient has only psychotic symptoms, without mania or depression (A).

Bipolar disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), is “a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, and activity levels,” and

Bipolar disorder, also called manic depression, is a systemic disorder that affects a person both mentally and physically. While talking about diseases and disorders may be hard for some, it is vital that we do in order to have an understanding of them. Bipolar disorder affects so many people in the world that it is highly likely that you probably know someone suffering from it. It is a disorder that we are still making discoveries about each and everyday, and will continue to do so in order to satisfy our thirst for knowledge. Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness that not many people have a full understanding of.

Bipolar Disorder is a mental illness, which involves hypomanic episodes, which are changes in someone’s usual mood. Originally, Bipolar Disorder was called manic depression because it does share similar symptoms with people diagnosed with depression. Bipolar Disorder is a severe condition because it can cause mania, which then causes hallucinations and paranoid rage. (Bipolar Disorder) Bipolar Disorder is classified into two categories, bipolar type 1 and bipolar type 2. Bipolar type 2 is more serious because there is more major depression episodes. (Bipolar Disorder) A study done by Revista Brasileria de Psiquitra, shows a higher prevalence of Bipolar Disorder type 1 but overall both are pretty low in the general population. (Clemente)

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness affects about 1.2 percent of the U.S. population (8). It is defined by fluctuating states of depression and mania throughout ones life. Those who are depressed may be restless, irritable, have slowed thinking or speech, decreased sexual activity, changes in appetite and sleep patterns, suicidal thoughts as well as other changes. Those in a manic state may have increased activity or energy, more thoughts and faster thinking, grandiose thoughts, decreased sleep and need for sleep, increased sexual activity, elated mood, irritable mood, as well as other symptoms. Mixed state is when both depression and mania are exhibited at the same time in a cycle. Rapid cycling