Manic depression or now called bipolar affective disorder, have millions of people suffering from this mood disorder. Mood swings are but natural, but this mood disorder is way beyond the normal experiences of people. The disorder is characterized by extreme low depression and highs of an elated mood or mania. The frequency usually varies from one individual to another.

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I want to be more up than down and I never have an equal balance. So I say go for manic. I will see my doctor in a couple of days and I want to know if anyone here has any suggestions. I am currently on Lamictal and a nerve medication. He added another one that seemed to lift me up a lot, but the side effects were horrible–Ambilify–I think I spelled it correctly. Anyway, what is another good one similar to it or one that will keep my mood up and give me energy?

Bipolar disorder is considered one of the most severe of all the psychiatric disorders. It is a condition in which those who suffer from it alternate periods of mania, or high energy and creativity, to bouts of depression with varying degrees of severity. Because of these two extremes bipolar disorder can be expensive to treat and manage with some bipolar medication costing up to $15 for a pill that must be taken everyday.

The primary focus of any treatment for bipolar disorder is to use a combination of bipolar medication that consists of anti-anxiety, mood stabilizers and antidepressant drugs. There are 4 groups of medications within those three types that are used to treat this disorder including Lithium, anti-psychotics, anti-depressants, and anti-convulsants.

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A typical day for a person begins with them waking up usually in the morning. They go about their day, doing routine activities such as going to work, meeting deadlines, attending meetings and dealing with all kinds of people.
In the person’s home, they must do chores and spend time with family. Other activities must be done too including: going to the grocery store or church. Above all else, they must deal with different scenarios that they can welcome or resent. This all adds up to making the individual sick.

This is the type of day a person suffering from Bipolar contends with. Having the disease should not be hard to talk about but it is even if the person is seeking treatment

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Medical professionals, for years, were under the assumption that schizophrenia and bipolar were two diseases with very comparable symptoms. German psychiatrist Eric Kraepelin said that the illnesses were very different mental disorders. Separation of the two diseases still exists even today thanks to Kraepelin.

People need to understand that these two diseases are very hard to distinguish from one another because they do have the same symptoms and signs which makes it difficult for psychiatrists not to make mistakes in diagnosis.

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In psychiatry Bipolar Syndrome and Manic Depression falls under a group of mood disorders where a person experiences emotional states where they go from being clinically depressed to states where their moods are elevated, or the opposite cycle, and can be or include both these mood states. This can be a crippling condition if it is left untreated or ignored, and has been known to cause suicide.

During the late 1950′s was when the term “manic depressive” first came about, although it is now commonly referred as Bipolar Disorder, which is the name for it now. This mood disorder will have been around long before it was discovered. Word such as ‘ania’ and ‘manos’ which come from Latin, used by the Romans. A Roman doctor by the name of Caelius Aurelianus came up with these etymologies (history of words). The meaning of ‘Ania’ is a creating great mental suffering, whereas ‘manos’ on the opposite scale can be translated as being calmer and more relaxed. Through centuries past those known to great minds have tried to work out how these strange mood swings have come about. Gao Lian, a Chinese encyclopaedist was one of the first to cite this illness in his ‘Eight Treatises on Nurturing of Life’; the Frenchman Jules Baillarger found that the origin of these frequent cycles of depression and mania could be explained through two phased mental disorder.

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Borderline personality disorder and bipolar are often mistaken as being the same thing. They are also often misdiagnosed, one for the other. This is because the symptoms for both illnesses are startlingly similar.

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Living with a bipolar disorder diagnosis isn’t easy. However, knowing, as they say, is half the battle. Once a diagnosis is established, a person has two main choices right off. They are whether to let the disorder take control of one’s life, or to fight it with every weapon in the modern psychiatric and psychological arsenal.

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When I married my husband I knew that he was a recovering alcoholic (2 years clean), but he was one of the nicest people I had ever met. We’ve been married about 6 months now and these past few months he’s becoming more and more of an A**hole, with incredible mood swings, ranging from being the wonderful man I married to a verbally abusive jerk, tantrums and all. I have found out so many lies, most recently that he just resents me being around and wishes he was single. I’ve told him to go and file for divorce and I will leave and go back to my home country (yes I immigrated for him). But he won’t do this, later he apologizes and begs me to “bear with him”. He is like Jekyll and Hyde.
Lately he’s told me he was diagnosed as “bipolar” years ago, but takes no medication. I am wondering if his mood swings have anything to do with the alcoholism or is he really bipolar, and what the symptoms of bipolar are? I am so confused, any advice is appreciated …

I’m going to do an essay on bipolar disorder in children. Can anyone tell me a little about it? Is it the same as in adults? What are appropriate medications? How can the parents help the child? Anyone have any personal experience with bipolar kids or bipolar people in general? Thanks!
Okay, yes, in adolescence.