Bipolar disorder, known by many as manic depression, is a mental illness caused by a combination of factors, including neurological, biological, emotional, and environmental factors. It is most commonly described as mood cycling or mood swings, in which the patient cycles through moods of depression, mania, and normal behavior.

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Bipolar Disorder, earlier known as Manic Depressive Disorder, is a common psychological illness that can disrupt one’s life severely, leading to chaotic behavior and even suicide. Affecting nearly one per cent of the population, people suffering from this disease are often highly creative and gifted. They include geniuses like poet Sylvia Plath. While in some cases the disease worsens over time, in others the patient gets well spontaneously.

Millions of people have bipolar disorder. It used to be called manic depression. With bipolar disorder, life can be like an emotional roller coaster. One day your mood is low and you feel sad. Then your mood gets really high and you feel great. Then the sadness comes back. The good news is that there’s help for these extreme mood swings. With proper treatment, people with bipolar disorder can lead normal lives.

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Bipolar has many definitions, all of which can affect a person lot as well as their family. One of the definitions is that a person diagnosed with the bipolar disorder has alternating experiences of extreme elations coupled with deep depression. Another form of bipolar is Manic Depression which is characterised by episodes of deep depression, that is accompanied with one manic episode.

Bipolar disorder is said to affect a person’s thought patterns, behaviour, feelings and their perception of things around them. Professional put this down to chemical imbalances and electrical elements of the brain, as it is not functioning normally. Others say that this is a mental illness which can run in the family, so people are more proned to getting this disorder if there is a medical history of bipolar disorder running in the family or any other mental illness.

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Australian researchers have discovered a new procedure which has let bipolar patients control their mood swings. In studies, so far, they have managed to cut the number of manic attacks that their patients suffer, by half.

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Do you find that you have wild mood shifts from depression to euphoria? Do you find that your life is being compromised by your unstable mental state? Do you find yourself sometimes talking over people and talking too fast? Did you have episodes of super creativity with lots of ideas but unable to focus on any one in particular? Have you engaged in very risky behaviors believing there was no way you could fail? Have your actions caused severe damage to your life or that of your family? Have you entered depression that lasted for 4 days or more and then reverted back to euphoria? These are typical symptoms of bipolar disorder.

This mental disorder that affects millions of Americans and symptoms vary from mild to severe. Mild symptoms can become worse over time if not treated. It is important to treat this illness early to prevent symptoms from getting worses over time. If you think you might have bipolar disorder the first step is to take inventory of all your symptoms and unusual behaviors during the past few months to a year. Then contact a mental health care provider such as a psychiatrist to determine if you have it.

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There has been a lot of controversy surrounding bipolar disorder and bipolar treatment that sufferers can expect to receive. One of the reasons for this is too many people feel equipped to talk about people who are bipolar without actually fully understanding the types of bipolar treatment that are available. In fact talk to most people and ask them to name a bipolar treatment and it is likely that they will reply with a one word answer such as “Prozac”. Whilst Prozac can and is used to treat the symptoms of bipolar disorder this drug is just the tips of the iceberg when it comes to bipolar treatment as there is much more out there from medication to alternative therapies.
When someone is diagnosed as being bipolar it is easy to think that a simple pill each day will rid them of their symptoms and life will return to normal in a few days. Unfortunately this isn’t always the case and this is why it takes some time for some individuals to get the correct bipolar treatment which will work well for them.
As previously mentioned Prozac can work well as a form of bipolar treatment, it works by encouraging the production of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a natural chemical which when produced lifts the mood and this helps as a form of bipolar treatment as it can stabilise the mood of a sufferer. This type of medication (and others) is in the group of SSRIs (Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) which are often prescribed to combat the symptoms and feelings that bipolar disorder produces. Another group of medication that is also used as a bipolar treatment are tricyclic medications which work along the same lines as SSRIs. Lithium can also be used as a bipolar treatment as this too works as a mood stabiliser and this is one of the most well known and ‘popular’ treatments for bipolar disorder.
Cogitative behavioural therapy can be extremely useful as an additional bipolar treatment and many psychiatrists recommend it to people suffering from bipolar disorder. CBT works so well because it helps those with a bipolar diagnosis to recognise the ‘triggers’ that tend to signal the start of a bipolar high or low. Once these triggers are recognised a person who is bipolar is then able to put into practice some of the self help methods and techniques which have been shown to them in CBT sessions.
Some people also advocate a change in diet as a secondary bipolar treatment, as many believe that a healthy diet that is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids can be beneficial for those with bipolar disorder. Complementary therapy’s such as yoga, meditation and acupuncture can also be used as these can play a large and important role in the emotional wellbeing of a person and can also help to lift the mood. Exercise can also help as a bipolar treatment as exercise releases endorphins, the body’s own ‘feel good’ chemicals and these can boost the mood significantly.