Bipolar Disorder - Find out Causes, Types, Symptoms‎‎ Treatment Guide For Mental Disorder Of Depression

Bipolar Disorder Overview: Mental Disorder Of Depression, Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis & Treatments of Bipolar Disorder or Manic Depression Explained on the basis of Latest Research, Tips to Care Bipolar Disorder and prevent Bipolar Disorder with  Complete Help Guide of Bipolar Disorder.

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Intro: What is Bipolar Disorder? Causes Bipolar Disorder Types Bipolar Disorder Bipolar Disorder I Bipolar Disorder II

Bipolar Depression Disorder Mixed Bipolar Disorder Diagnosis of Disorder Treatment & Medications Reference, Source &  Disclaimer

What is Bipolar Disorder?

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Termed as ‘Manic Depression’, Bipolar Disorder is related to a mental problem which causes severe mood swings and uncontrollable behavioral fluctuations that create difficulties of reasoning, thinking, academic performances, social relationships and mutual bonding in social life for the affected individual.
Manic depression of Bipolar Disorder can be troublesome to damage the self-confidence and personal life that affects the individuals and associated people around them in long term as serious shifts in moods and energy results in prolonging the bipolar disorder cycle for days, weeks and even months.
According to American Psychological Association ^[1] the emotional shifts can be so overwhelming that the person may decide to suicide being unable to perform daily chores of life and unhealthy relationships with society.

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Type of Bipolar Disorder:

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Generally there are four types of Bipolar Disorder which are classified to discriminate the mood elevations and energy levels which occur differently in each type of Bipolar Disorder.

1. Bipolar I Disorder
2. Bipolar II Disorder
3. Bipolar Depression Disorder
4. Mixed Bipolar Disorder

1-Bipolar I Disorder

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Bipolar I Disorder  is mainly distinguished by one or more manic episodes i.e. individual might feel over charged with energy and repulsive actions being over confident.
 Apart from manic episodes of high energy and inadequate sleep, the affected person may experience the symptoms of both mania and depression. During the manic episodes, the mood shifts from highs of mania to the lows of depression occur depending on the level of severity.

 Symptoms of Manic Episodes/ Bipolar I Disorder

Following are the most specific abnormal behavior and signs of people affected with mania (mental illness);

• Too much energetic with inadequate sleep of merely 2 hours. 
• Racing thoughts i.e. flying suddenly from one idea to another and switching to one plan to next in no time. 
• Talking or speaking in a rapid and loud tone.
• Too much involvement in sexual activities and uncontrollable sexual addiction.
• Addicted to one thing for short time with no distraction.
• Self medication which leads to substance abuse. 

A manic episode usually lasts for about three to six months, if untreated, leaving the affected patient to experience manic and depressive episodes often. Manic episode along with depression in Bipolar I Disorder leads the patient to develop anxiety issues, sleep disturbances and appetite problems. In extreme cases of Bipolar I Disorder, the affected individual might develop psychosis, a state in which you cannot reason or think due to continuous bad mood.

2-Bipolar II Disorder

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Bipolar II Disorder known as hypomania is similar to manic episodes but in Bipolar II Disorder, the mood swings NEVER reach to peak pint. On the contrary to Bipolar I Disorder, people experience constant phase depression and high energy in hypomania.
As hypomania is milder form of mania (Bipolar I Disorder), the affected person does not develop significant inabilities to socialize or experience the risks of delusions, hallucinations or abrupt mood swings as in mania episodes.
The symptoms of behavioral change of person, in hypomania are same as in Bipolar I Disorder but they most commonly continue for days or weeks.

Symptoms of Bipolar II Disorders

In hypomania state, the affected person may experience the following abnormal changes in moods and daily life i.e.

• Feeling euphoric ( intense feelings of positive vibes and exultant)
• Energetic and productive
• Goal oriented without losing touch with reality
• Rapid talking and impulsiveness (in severe case)
• Addicted to sexual activities 

3-Bipolar Depression Disorder

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Bipolar depression disorder may induce persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness and anger in patients of mental problem. In depressive phase of Bipolar Disorder, Bipolar depression lumps in with regular depression and sad mood to trigger rapid mood shifting which causes cycle of mania and hypomania to complicate the mental and psychological problems for the affected people.

Symptoms of Bipolar Depression Disorder

Depressive episodes of Bipolar Disorder can be distinguished by the following symptoms, which expose the patients having unusual depression for long time.

• Depressive phase induce self-loathing and feelings of being worthless. 
• Anxiety issues, helplessness and loss of interest in worldly life.
• Weight issues of gaining and losing weight or loss of appetite. 
• Irregular sleeping cycle i.e. inadequate sleep or too much sleeping in alternative days which creates sleeping disturbances. 
• Tendency of suicide is common in severe cases along with psychotic features.

During depressive episode of Bipolar Disorder, the surest sign is that the affected people feel down/low for a long time, usually 2 weeks at least.

4-Mixed Bipolar Disorder

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An individual may develop mixed bipolar disorder experiencing the symptoms of both mania or hypomania and depression. The symptoms of Bipolar 1 Disorder and Bipolar 2 Disorder occur simultaneously. To characterize mixed bipolar disorder, one manic episode and one episode of depression are expected. However, the symptoms of hypomania and depression usually do not occur often. Mixed bipolar disorder involves symptoms of mania or hypomania and depressive phase, which makes it a deadly combination of high energy and low mood that triggers suicidal tendency in affected people.

Symptoms of Mixed Bipolar Disorder

Common signs of mixed bipolar disorder include;

• Insomnia ( Lack of sleep or No sleep at all)
• Irritability ( Minor things may cause severe anger)
• Anxiety issues ( Social boycott)
• Depression along with agitation

Causes of Bipolar Disorder - Mental Illness

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As a matter of fact, the exact causes of bipolar disorder are not understood or discovered yet. According to many experts, bipolar disorder develops due to more than one factor. Some studies have suggested that bipolar disorder develops due to genetics and environmental factors. Bipolar disorder affects the brain with physical changes and damages the body of person causing neurotransmitter imbalances, abnormal thyroid function, circadian rhythm disturbances, and high levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the affected individuals.

Following are the factors which act altogether to develop bipolar disorder.

Genetics

It is believed that genes contribute to bipolar disorder development or at least maximize the risk to get vulnerable to the illness. According to the small twin studies, ^[2] people with a blood relative who has bipolar disorder have a higher risk of developing it themselves. But this myth is not proved yet as not everyone with an inherited vulnerability develops the illness, indicating that genes are not the only cause.

Environmental Factors

The external factors i.e. environmental factors and psychological factors , named as ‘triggers’ are believed to induce symptoms of mania or hypomania and depression in people. The triggers can be listed as - child abuse, mental stress, some other traumatic event may increase the bipolar disorder risk.

Diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder

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Bipolar Disorder is not easy to diagnose as it involves different moods and rapid shifts of moods along with abnormal behaviors. But nowadays, experts and doctors have figured out an extensive understanding to understand the symptoms and signs of mania (Bipolar 1 disorder), hypomania (Bipolar II disorder) and bipolar depression disorder.

For an accurate diagnosis, blood tests are used by doctors to determine the patient’s overall examination. And the psychiatrist hears complete details of bipolar signs, unusual mood swings and family history from the patient. The symptoms are then assessed to meet the specific criteria from American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

It is really important to diagnose this serious mental problem as it affects the social lives and health of people as well.

Dr. Wes Burgess has stated in his book, The Bipolar Handbook: Real-Life Questions with Up-to-date Answers, Penguin 2006;

“30% of individuals with bipolar disorder will attempt suicide during their lives, and 20% will succeed . . . . Suicide is more common in bipolar depression than in unipolar major depression, panic disorder, or even schizophrenia. HOWEVER, THE SUICIDE RATE GOES DOWN DRAMATICALLY WITH ADEQUATE TREATMENT”.

He added;

“It is estimated that 2 to 7% of people in the United States suffer from bipolar disorder.^[3] Almost 10 million people will develop the illness sometimes during their lives. About half of these will never receive the correct diagnosis or treatment.”

Treatment and Medications of Bipolar Disorder

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As Bipolar disorder is chronic mental health condition, it may require long-term medications or psychological treatment and lifestyle approaches depending on the level of severity in patients. Following are the initials which are taken by experts to treat bipolar disorder to get rid of life devastating ups and downs.

• The symptoms and signs of mania (lunacy) and depression are controlled by medications.
• The patient might be given antidepressants and one set of other drugs (mood stabilizing medicines) to treat depression.
• As medications do not recover the patient for long term, the patient is given choices of talk therapy.
• Your psychiatrist might ask you family or close friends to make you understand the goal of understanding your situation and manage your symptoms with time.
• The treatment involves making changes in lifestyle, employment and social network to achieve the 100% successful recovery.

Note: Bipolar disorders can be treated with complete success and the patients are reported to live healthy lives after receiving treatment as early as possible.  

[Reference, Source &  Disclaimer:]

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Reference:

1. In Bipolar Disorder: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments article by Christian Nordqvist 26 August 2016 in medicalnewstoday,

2.  Emma L. Dempster In Disease-associated epigenetic changes in monozygotic twins discordant for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder 09 September 2011, Hum Mol Genet (2011) 20 (24): 4786-4796
3.  Bipolar disorder statistics in bipolar-lives site

Sources:

Images used by Shutterstock Royalty-free images 
Statistic, New data is provided by different authentic websites along with reference, you may consult with each respective owner. 

Disclaimer:

The information provided on  Bipolar Disorder is provided for information and education purpose only, don't use this guide for diagnosis or medical treatment options, if you feel any discomfort or bipolar symptoms, consult your psychiatric, 

 Author:

                  

Dr Irfan Murtaza (Continental Medical College Lahore, Pakistan)