There are many illnesses which have been known to cause much confusion in people, especially in recorded history, such as depression. This disorder was suffered by historical figures such as King David and Job (from the Hebrew bible). Hippocrates even mentioned having depression, which was then contemporarily known as Melancholia, caused by the excess of ‘black bile. Old medical physiologyy stated there were four humours based on the four main bodily fluids black and yellow bile, blood and lastly, phlegm. For years to come, depression was portrayed in arts and literature. what do we understand about depressive disorder today?

Depressive disorders have been around for centuries, and many people have suffered without getting diagnosed and the necessary treatment. Today, there is more awareness about the disorder, even though millions are still unaware they have it. For some people, it is still embarrassing to reveal that they suffer from this illness and they don’t want to accept it themselves. Depressive disorders are made up of different types, like a lot of other illnesses. The more familiar types known to people are Bipolar Disorder, Major Depression, and Dysthymia.

Read the rest of this entry

Bipolar disease is a type of psychiatric condition which can severely affect the life of anyone suffering from it, and the lives of those close to them. Mood plays a key role in bipolar disease as the condition presents itself in extreme mood swings. Those people who have a diagnosis of bipolar disease often find that they experience tremendous highs and crushing lows, which occur without any warning. These exaggerated moods are interspersed with times when the bipolar disease sufferer feels quite ‘normal’ and can function quite happily.
When the person with the bipolar disease diagnosis feels particularly happy, only intensively so, medical professionals term this is being in a ‘mania’ period. This can last from minutes to hours to even days and whilst the bipolar disease sufferer is in the middle of one of these episodes they can experience hallucinations and delusions. However this type of behaviour is at the more extreme end of the bipolar disease spectrum. On the flipside when a bipolar disease sufferer is feeling low it is known as a ‘depressive episode’ and this can also last for some time.
It is easy to say when hearing about bipolar disease, that everyone feels extreme highs and lows during their life and it is something that should be dealt with. However this is easy to say if you are not someone with bipolar disease as these manic highs and depressive lows can actually affect the quality of life of sufferers.
For instance when someone with bipolar disease is having a manic episode they can become very restless, their mind will race and they might exhibit strange behaviours. Many bipolar disease sufferers find that they do highly uncharacteristic things such as spend huge amounts of money or turn to drugs and alcohol. Delusion can also take hold and reality and fantasy can easily become blurred making it very hard to deal with someone in the middle of a bipolar disease episode.
When a bipolar disease sufferer is going through a depressive episode they can feel an overwhelming sense of guilt, sadness, anxiety, hopelessness and even anger. They might also find that they are unable to sleep and so may rely on sleeping pills, sexual activity might take a back seat as their sex drive is lost and severe apathy can take hold. When a person is in the middle of any episodes it can be distressing both for them and for those around them.
In certain cases when the person with bipolar disease has very increased mania or depression they can become psychotic and this can be very serious indeed. Some people may even require hospitalisation as they need specialist treatment to overcome the manic or depressive episode. Hospitalisation, however is only performed when there is a real concern about the wellbeing of the bipolar disease patient. Otherwise prescription drugs are used to control the symptoms and episodes of bipolar disease and this works very well for many sufferers worldwide.

In psychiatry, bipolar syndrome is a kind of medical finding which refers to depressed mood along with a mixed state or hypomania. When compared with people who are normal, people suffering from bipolar depression have mood swings which might range from a few minutes to even a few months. Such people are prone to attempt suicide at any given chance and are equally associated with distress and disruption. Bipolar syndrome is many times linked to extreme functioning and many creative people attribute their creativity to this ailment.

Bipolar disorder is further classified into Type I and Type II. In case of Type I disorder, the affected person is most likely to experience full-blown mania. In case of the Type II ailment, the ‘highs’ of the affected individual do not exceed the hypomania stage unless it was set off by such medications. During such manic periods, psychosis may arise. Rapid cycling can also take place. The extent to which a person may get affected because of such disorder varies from individual to individual and from time to time. Thus, the bipolar spectrum concept is put to use generally and it includes cyclothymia too.

Read the rest of this entry

Recently there has been a lot of media attention in the press and on television about bipolar disease as more people are starting to be diagnosed with the illness. Many people also believe that bipolar disease is a new psychological illness that has only just been discovered in the past 5 – 10 years but this is incorrect. Previously bipolar disease was known as manic depression and many people may still call it this and that is where some of the confusion can stem from. There are also a lot of myths that surround the illness which people actually believe to be true. Here are some facts and myths about bipolar disease which should help people to understand a little more about it.
Facts
• Bipolar disease can affect anyone at any age, although it is not as common in children as it is in adults.
• People who are bipolar tend to have fluctuating moods which can swing between incredible highs and lows.
• Bipolar disease can be quite safely controlled with the correct medication and on some occasions, cognitive behavioural therapy.
• People who have bipolar disease have a higher chance of having children who will go on to be diagnosed with bipolar disease themselves – but this should not stop them from having children as it will not happen in every case.
• People diagnosed as being bipolar are perfectly able to have a job and function normally, particularly when they have the right medication and are able to stabilise their mood swings.
• Bipolar disease can have different types and levels of severity, not everyone who is bipolar will exhibit exactly the same symptoms as each other.
Myths
• People with bipolar disease are not mad – they have fluctuating moods which need to be stabilised with the correct medical help.
• Being diagnosed as being bipolar does not mean that a person is likely to commit suicide although depression is part of the symptoms.
• Bipolar disease can’t be caught from someone who has it.
• People who are bipolar do not have to be ‘sectioned’ in hospital during one of their highs or lows. This can happen but only in very severe cases when a person has not received the correct treatment or is refusing to take their medication.
• Taking drugs will not ‘give’ you bipolar disorder but it can play a part in the mood swings that people with bipolar have if they take stimulants like cocaine. In other words they do not help the situation if someone is bipolar.
Hopefully these facts will have given you a better indication of what having bipolar disease means to those who suffer from it and separated fact from myth. People with bipolar disease are not mad and dangerous; they are people who have unbalanced moods which need careful medical attention for them to stay on an even level. Without this they can have extreme highs and lows which can make daily life very difficult for them and this needs to be understood.

In order to become successful in life, it is quite essential to be healthy and wise. While any sort of physical restrictions of the body can be fought with and dealt with, the central processing unit of our body that is our brain needs to be absolutely perfect in order to live a happy & successful life. For all our errands what we primarily need is a sharp brain so as to understand our environment and act promptly & make well evaluated decisions.

Along with a perfectly working brain, what we need is a control over our emotions. Being over excited or unduly angry all the time would not help us in any way. Quoting in the right terminology all our psychological factors must be balanced enough.

Read the rest of this entry

I understand that today, they are breaking down bipolar into different types…..one being worse than the other. Can you offer any information on this?

Thanks so much!!!

Due to my brother’s situation, I always assumed that there was only one type of bipolar disorder. Last year I discovered that there was more than one type, and I want to know what different types are there and how many exist just out of curiosity.

How to identify the bipolar disorder types? Did all the have the same symptoms or it varies?

Scientists all over the world have categorized bipolar disorder into two classes; Mania and depression. This is the reason why the disorder is also referred to as a manic depression.

Bipolar disorder is a disease of the brain and so is treated by a psychologist. People suffering from bipolar disorder are not in control of their emotions and experience extreme mood swings. This makes them very unpredictable and dealing with a person with bipolar disorder is very difficult.

A patient of bipolar disorder will be absolutely normal one minute and the next an eerie change will come over them. They may go into depression and go into a cocoon and stay there for a long time without interacting normally with people who try to communicate with them. Sometimes these patients will get so depressed that they will even contemplate suicide, many of them have been successful too. So care must be taken in dealing with a patient of bipolar disorder.

Read the rest of this entry

Pediatric bipolar disorder, or manic depression, is a mental illness that presents itself in patients as mood swings or mood cycling. Pediatric bipolar type one patients tend to experience episodes of mania alternating with periodic episodes of depression. Pediatric bipolar type two patients tend to experience episodes of depression interspersed with periodic episodes of mild mania. Depression symptoms include anger, extreme sadness, sleeping too much, and feelings of worthlessness. Manic symptoms include bursts of rage, extreme happiness, increased energy, hyperactivity, distractibility, sleeping too little, and obsessive behaviors.

Read the rest of this entry