Article by Alexandra Woolcott

Bipolar Disorder is a mood disorder characterised by abnormal mood states. More accurately it involves cycling between the high mood state of mania to the incredibly low state of depression. Bipolar disorder affects at least one in every 70 people, greatly impeding the sufferer’s ability to live a normal life, and putting them at a higher risk of personal, relationship and work related issues.

In order to understand this disorder correctly, a discussion about how we actually define mood or abnormality of mood is in order. Our moods include the obvious states of happiness and sadness, but also optimism, pessimism, contentedness or dissatisfaction and they can even cover physical states such as how fatigued one can feel. You could say that mood is like an emotional barometer a set of feelings that expresses our sense of emotional comfort or discomfort.

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Question by Preda: bipolar, mood swings, depression and cutting. Where do i go for help?
My fiance has some issues including bipolar, mood swings, depression and cutting. Where do I go for help without taking him to a doctor? Is there someone I can call anonymously to get him help?

Best answer: Read the rest of this entry

Did you know that what we eat will actually help in controlling mood swings much more than we think? This is a fact of life often overlooked by many doctors and patients who merely prescribe anti depressants and little else. The main complaint about these drugs is that they can turn us into lethargic and shadowy figures.

So, let us go back to nutrition for the brain. We are obsessed about diet having an effect on our waistline but rarely think that about the effect it will have on our brains.

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Mood swings are a drastic emotional change from one continuum to another. A person with mood swings may be seen happy at a time and in the next moment is suddenly completely unreceptive, upset or irritated. Mood swings are commonly associated with mood disorders – bipolar or manic depression, multiple personality, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), asperger syndrome and pre-menstrual syndrome in women. Hormonal changes, especially in women, can also cause temporary distress in the brain chemistry; thus resulting to mood swings. However, as soon as the change in hormones stabilizes, the mood swings eventually subside. Knowing how to control mood swings is a helpful way of maintaining relationships and quality of job performance even at the onset of mood swings.

Feeling or experiencing a variety of negative emotions like irritability, anger, sadness, and tearfulness is normal given the fact that stress is always present. However, when these emotions go haywire and would start affecting or causing inability to function normally, these become a major concern. Mood swings that are associated with other psychological concerns are mostly dealt with a help of professional psychologists.

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Bipolar mood disorder, as the name suggests, has two behavioral traits that are poles apart. This kind of disorder is recognized with ‘high peaks and low valleys’ in the context of mood swings. A person with this mood disorder faces episodes of extreme temperaments. At one point of time they come across intense feelings, optimism and brighter perceptions towards life while on the second instance, they can turn out to be extremely depressed and full of hopelessness. Under these effects, a person may go hippy and impulsively charge up huge amounts on his credit card, resign from the job, or even break up with friends. Unlike the normally passing good or bad mood, the phases of bipolar disorder last longer – for days, weeks or even months. However, we often fail to diagnose it during the initial stages as the symptoms may be relatively feeble or even confusing. So it is often overlooked till late, leading to unnecessary suffering. Read on to get an insight of the major symptoms of bipolar mood disorder. Symptoms Of Bipolar Mood Disorder Individuals suffering from this disorder face two different episodes of emotional play. They may experience a ‘manic’ phase or a ‘depressive’ phase. Symptoms and Signs of ‘Mania’

During their ‘manic’ phase, subjects may feel overtly happy and unusually ‘high’ or optimistic about everything. This experience is often defined as feeling on top of the world and being unbeatable.
People tend to be extremely irritable and agitated during this period. They feel abnormally jittery and uneasy.
The rate of speech and thought process during these times becomes very rapid – one idea almost jumps over the other. People around find it difficult to come at pace with this kind of racing one-way communication.
These individuals are easily distracted at this stage as they remain very restless and impatient.
A manic may get irate and infuriated with people who differ from him or dismiss his impractical plans or ideas.
The manic individual experiences lack of inhibitions – this can lead to a reduced ability to foresee the costs of his impulsive actions. For example, he may recklessly spend huge amount of money shopping unnecessarily or even quit a job without any other source of income in sight.
These individuals project lavish plans and beliefs. They may even believe that they are exceptionally endowed with talents and can do almost anything.
These individuals continue to feel energetic in spite of their reduced sleep. Read the rest of this entry

Many of us suffer from mood swings and we sometimes wonder whether we could be suffering from a bipolar condition. First let us have a look at the difference between how to get mood swing help when the situation is more or less under control and when it could be really urgent to seek help.

If it really is a bipolar condition, then the length and severity of the condition will be evident. This is no normal on or off day and the low period can last several weeks or months. It may be followed by a period when we are totally and unnaturally elated. These long spells mean that our work and relationships will suffer and certainly our daily routine will be negatively affected. That is because if we are bipolar, then it will affect everything we do during the day from sleep, eating habits, concentration levels and levels of libido. If we really are bipolar, then we will really need more than just mood swing help. We should seek professional help.

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Jim is a successful software engineer and a happily married man with a loving wife and two lovely children. These days, he goes through a range of emotions in the matter of hours and there seems to be just one term to describe it – a roller coaster ride. When he wakes up in the morning, he feels great and looks forward to the day. Breakfast time with his family is a fun-filled time and Jim feels his normal self, joking and asking his kids about their school and friends. By lunch, his mood has darkened and he is tense and nervous. This at times results in his feeling aggressive towards his co-workers and subordinates. By end of the day, he is extremely restless and can barely wait to finish his work and head home. Back home, his mood stays unchanged. He does not want to speak to anyone or go out and do something. By late evening, Jim is feeling fine again. He is watching some old movies with his family and fondly reminiscing about the past. But as the night approaches, Jim’s spirits start to sink again till he is in utter despair by midnight. Day in and day out, Jim goes through these extreme mood shifts and he is afraid that he has completely lost control of his emotions.

Jim is going through what are called Mood Swings. The most common way of defining mood swings is that they are rapidly changing moods. Capable of causing extreme emotional distress, mood swings can make you feel very lost and lonely. In fact, your reactions in certain situations may be absolutely extreme without your even realizing it. Though a very common occurrence, not many realize that they are going through mood swings, resulting in a very frustrating time for both themselves and even more so for their family members, till they seek help. Everyone goes through stress and anxiety at different stages and at different levels in their lifetime and these can cause mood swings from time to time. However, if the mood swings are frequent and are severe enough to be disrupting your life, you should seek help.

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I am dating a smart, witty, beautiful 23 year old (happy birthday today!) girl who I share a lot of values and common interests with. (I am also female, by the way). The biggest problem is, she has Bipolar disorder. She IS being medicated for it, but of course, she still has her mood swings.

I understand that she is going to have more “dramatic” mood swings then a “normal” person would… but how do i deal with it exactly? It gets difficult for me when she is sad or depressed- And while I am always there for her, I wonder what I SHOULD be doing to help her out, if anything at all.

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A bomb exploded in the middle of my life when I was expelled from St. Thomas University School of Law.  I was hurt, angry and confused.  And fighting the lawsuit against the school without an attorney became my life’s work formore than four years.2

I wish I did not have to admit this because it is not good for Christians – or anyone else for that matter – to be consumed with anything but Christ.  But there were times when I was consumed with the lawsuit and expulsion. Now, not two years later, thank God, I can hardly get interested in it enough to write about it.  It just doesn’t seem to matter anymore beyond the specific circumstances that I mention here as examples of the blessings of bipolar.

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I was diagnosed as being bipolar aprox 6 months ago. The doc put me on 100mg Lamictal, 10mg Loxapro 10mg Remeron (at night) and 1mg Xanax as needed. This combo has been working for the most part except for deminishing the really LOW lows. The doc will not up the Lexapro. I feel I need more help with the depression. Any suggestions as far as a different antidepressent goes? Also, I’m like an emotionless drone, is this because my “mania” is under control? I just feel dull and emotionless and not myself? What do you think?