Known also to be classified as Manic-Depressive Illness, Bipolar Disorder is defined by the National Institute of Mental Health, as being a brain disorder that seems to cause unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels and even the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. These various mood changes aren't considered to be normal ups and downs in which people experience throughout their lives. Bipolar disorder mood shifts can damage relationships, create poor job and/or school performances, and even trigger suicide.
According to statistics, bipolar disorder affects around 5.7 million, or 2.6 percent, of American adults aged 18 years or older in any given year. Bipolar disorder commonly begins late in a person's adolescence or early adulthood, although in some instances, it can show up during childhood or late in life. Nearly 83% of bipolar cases are labeled as severe, and it equally affects men and women.
Manic or depressed states often are the first signs of bipolar disorder. In order to be properly diagnosed as having bipolar, a person has to have first experienced mania or hypomania. At times, people dealing with bipolar disorder will have episodes of either mania or hypomania, while others may only experience either of those on rare occasion. To distinguish the type of bipolar disorder one may have, a doctor tests how impaired they are during their most severe mania or hypomania episode.
Hypomania is explained as a milder form of mania, which doesn't include having psychotic episodes. A person with hypomania is able to typically function in social settings or at their job without any major issues.
When dealing with periods of mania, people tend to behave impulsively, make reckless decisions and take dangerous or unusual risks. In manic states, mostly, someone can be completely unaware of the consequences of their negative action(s). The key thing is to be able to learn the kinds of behavior that throw up 'red flags' from prior manic episodes and to help manage the illness itself. With mania, one's mood can turn more irritable and their behavior can become more unpredictable, and their judgment more impaired.
Depression is typically a combination of physical and emotional symptoms, controlling a person's ability to function almost every day, for a length of at least two weeks. Levels of depression can be anywhere from severe or moderate, to Dysthymia, which is a mild low mood and can be chronic.
Bipolar depression can be debilitating, causing someone to be unable to simply get out of bed. A person dealing with depression can also have their sleep patterns interrupted, either by having difficulty falling and/or staying asleep. Some however, sleep more than usual, or oversleep. A miniscule decision, such as what to eat for dinner, can be overwhelming. Suicide/suicidal thoughts are prevalent with bipolar disorder. Suicidal tendencies can be linked with someone going through a manic or mixed state. Bipolar disorder that is associated with depression can often become more difficult to treat. People may grow obsessed with feelings of loss, personal failure(s), guilt or feelings of helplessness.
