Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition characterised by extreme mood swings that include emotional highs (mania or hypomania) and lows (depression).

 

When a person with bipolar is depressed, they may feel sad or hopeless and lose interest or pleasure in most activities. Their mood shifts to mania or hypomania (less extreme than mania), so they may feel euphoric, full of energy, or unusually irritable. These mood swings can affect sleep, energy, activity, judgment, behavior, and the ability to think clearly.

Episodes or stages of mood swings may occur rarely or multiple times a year. While most people will experience some emotional symptoms between episodes, some may not experience any.

Symptoms.

The symptoms of Bipolar come in three distinct episodes. There is the mania, hypomania, and the depressive episodes.

 

Mania and hypomania episodes have the same symptoms. The Mania episode is more severe than hypomania and causes more noticeable problems at work, school, and social activities, as well as relationship difficulties. Mania may also trigger a break from reality (psychosis) and require hospitalization.

Both a manic and a hypomanic episode include three or more of these symptoms:

• Abnormally upbeat, jumpy, or wired.
• Increased activity, energy, or agitation.
• An exaggerated sense of well-being and self-confidence (euphoria).
• Decreased need for sleep.
• Unusual talkativeness.
• Racing thoughts.
• Distractibility.
• Poor decision-making, for example, going on buying sprees, taking s*xual risks or making foolish investments.

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Major depressive episode

A major depressive episode includes symptoms that are severe enough to cause noticeable difficulty in day-to-day activities, such as work, school, social activities, or relationships.

 

This stage includes five or more of these symptoms:

• Depressed mood, such as feeling sad, empty, hopeless, or tearful (in children and teens, depressed mood can appear as irritability).
• Marked loss of interest or feeling no pleasure in all or almost all activities
• Significant weight loss when not dieting, weight gain, or decrease or increase in appetite (in children, failure to gain weight, as expected, can be a sign of depression).
• Either insomnia or sleeping too much.
• Either restlessness or slowed behavior.
• Fatigue or loss of energy.
• Feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt.
• Decreased ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness.
• Thinking about, planning, or attempting suicide.

Causes

Bipolar disorder does not appear to have a singular cause but is more likely to result from a range of factors that interact.

Genetic factors
Some studies have suggested that there may be a genetic component to bipolar disorder. It is more likely to emerge in a person who has a family member with the condition.

Biological traits
Patients with bipolar disorder often show physical changes in their brains, but the link remains unclear.

Brain-chemical imbalances

Neurotransmitter imbalances appear to play a key role in many mood disorders, including bipolar disorder.

Hormonal problems

Hormonal imbalances might trigger or cause bipolar disorder.

Environmental factors

Abuse, mental stress, a “significant loss,” or some other traumatic event may contribute to or trigger bipolar disorder.

One possibility is that some people with a genetic predisposition for bipolar disorder may not have noticeable symptoms until an environmental factor triggers a severe mood shift.

Treatment For Bipolar Disorder

Although bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition, mood swings and other symptoms can be managed by following a treatment plan. In most cases, bipolar disorder is treated with medication.

 

There are many medications for treating bipolar disorder, so a psychiatrist, who is best qualified to identify which drugs work best for a specific patient, should oversee treatment.

Bipolar disorder is treated with three main classes of medication which are mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, and antidepressants

 

Getting treatment from a mental health professional with experience in bipolar disorder can help in getting symptoms under control.

 

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