Article by John Hrivnak

What is bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness that causes sudden and severe mood, energy and behavioral swings. It affects 5.7 million American adults (Almost 3 percent of the entire adult population). Other names for this disease are: manic depression, manic-depressive disorder, manic-depressive illness, bipolar mood disorder and simply BPD. People diagnosed with BPD cycle from energetic highs or irritable moods, to sad, hopeless and depressed moods… and then back again. The high feeling is called mania. The low feeling is called depression. Between these cycles of extreme moods, people with bipolar experience normal moods in between.

Some behaviors of a BPD patient require that the terminology be defined clearly:

Mania (highs) – Patients feel euphoric and feel they have the ability to do anything. Due to this inflated perception of self, speech is usually filled with “delusions of grandeur”. Other symptoms of manic behavior or mania include a high sex drive, sexual indiscretions, confusion, insomnia, reckless spending, racing thoughts and speech, and substance abuse. This is not a complete list of manic symptoms or behaviors. As you can see, these symptoms are all self-destructive. This is why many BPD patients have social, financial and legal problems.

Hypomania – Presents as mania but to a lesser degree. It is often overlooked and considered baseline behavior. It involves many of the manic behaviors but it is at a less intense level.

Depression (lows) – Symptoms of depression can be intense. Some of them are extreme sadness, loss of energy, sleeping too much or very little, eating too much or to little with associated weight gain or loss. Also comes with an intense feeling of hopelessness that frequently leads to suicidal ideation or worse suicidal attempts. Men are more successful at suicide than women are, due to the lethality of the method used. Men more often use guns.

Bipolar Disorder affects both males and females equally. The age range of onset of symptoms begins at 15 to 30 years of age. Their appears to be a genetic link to the disease so the risks are greater if a family member has BPD. It is believed that a genetic component alone doe not guarantee transmission to another member. It is rather thought to be caused by a stressful event, substance abuse, or some unknown factor that triggers the ups and downs associated with the disease.

John Hrivnak

Do not hesitate to call one of the suicide hotlines: 1-800-SUICIDE (1-800-784-2433) or 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255).

About the Author

John has been a psychiatric nurse for the last 17 years. His expertise is in working with the friends,families and significant others of patients with a mental health diagnosis.

Tagged with: Bipolar • Disorder

Filed under: Bipolar Disorder Risk Factors

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!