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Click here to read the criteria for bipolar disorder from
the American
Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental
Disorders (DSM-IV).
Click here to read the ICD-10
Classifications for Bipolar Disorder,
from the World Health Organization.
What is Bipolar Disorder?
Bipolar disorder-which is also known as manic-depressive illness and will be
called by both names throughout this publication-is a mental illness involving
episodes of serious mania and depression.
The person's mood usually swings from overly "high" and irritable to sad
and
hopeless, and then back again, with periods of normal mood in between.
Bipolar disorder typically begins in adolescence or early adulthood and
continues throughout life. It is often not recognized as an illness, and people
who have it may suffer needlessly for years or even decades.
Effective treatments are available that greatly alleviate the suffering caused by
bipolar disorder and can usually prevent its devastating complications. These
include marital breakups, job loss, alcohol and drug abuse, and suicide.
Here are some facts about bipolar disorder :
Awareness
Manic-depressive illness has a devastating impact on many people.
At
least 2 million Americans suffer from manic-depressive illness.
For those afflicted with the illness, it is extremely distressing and disruptive.
Like other serious illnesses, bipolar disorder is also hard on
spouses, family members, friends, and employers.
Family members of people with bipolar disorder often have to cope
with serious behavioral problems (such as wild spending sprees) and
the lasting consequences of these behaviors.
Bipolar disorder tends to run in families and is believed to be
inherited in many cases.
Despite vigorous research efforts, a specific genetic defect
associated with the disease has not yet been detected.
Recognition :
Bipolar disorder involves cycles of mania and depression.
Signs and symptoms of mania include:
Extreme irritability and
distractibility
Excessive "high" or
euphoric feelings
Increased energy, activity,
restlessness,
racing thoughts, and rapid
talking
Decreased
need for sleep
Unrealistic
beliefs in one's abilities and powers
Uncharacteristically poor
judgment
Increased sexual drive
Abuse of drugs, particularly
cocaine, alcohol,
and sleeping medications
Obnoxious, provocative, or intrusive
behavior
Denial that anything is wrong
Signs
and symptoms of depression include:
Persistent
sad, anxious, or empty mood
Feelings
of hopelessness or pessimism
Feelings
of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness
Loss of interest or
pleasure in ordinary
activities, including sex
Decreased
energy, a feeling of fatigue or of being
"slowed down"
Difficulty
concentrating, remembering, making decisions
Restlessness or irritability
Sleep
disturbances
Loss
of appetite and weight, or weight gain
Chronic
pain or other persistent bodily symptoms
that
are not caused by physical disease.
Thoughts
of death or suicide; suicide attempts.
It may be helpful to think of the various mood states in manic-depressive
illness as a spectrum or continuous range. At one end is severe
depression,
which shades into moderate depression; then come mild and brief mood
disturbances that many people call "the blues," then normal mood, then
hypomania (a mild form of mania), and then mania.
Some people with untreated bipolar disorder have repeated depressions
and only an occasional episode of hypomania (bipolar II). In the other
extreme, mania may be the main problem and depression may occur only
infrequently. In fact,symptoms of mania and depression may be mixed
together in a single "mixed" bipolar state.
Descriptions provided by patients themselves offer valuable insights
into the various mood states associated with bipolar disorder:
Depression:
I doubt completely my ability to do anything well. Its seems as
though my mind has slowed down and burned out to the point of
being virtually useless...[I am] haunt[ed]...with the total, the
desperate hopelessness of it all....Others say, "It's only
temporary, it will pass, you will get over it," but of course they
haven't any idea of how I feel, although they are certain they do.
If I can't feel, move, think, or care, then what on earth is the point?
Hypomania:
At first when I'm high, it's tremendous...ideas are fast...like
shooting stars you follow ''til brighter ones appear...all shyness
disappears, the right words and gestures are suddenly there...
uninteresting people, things, become intensely interesting.
Sensuality is pervasive, the desire to seduce and be seduced is
irresistible. Your marrow is infused with unbelievable feelings of
ease, power, well-being, omnipotence, euphoria... you can do
anything... but, somewhere this changes.
Mania:
The fast ideas become too fast and there are far too many...
overwhelming confusion replaces clarity...you stop keeping up
with it--memory goes. Infectious humor ceases to amuse.
Your friends become
frightened...everything is now against the
grain...you are irritable, angry, frightened, uncontrollable, and trapped.
Recognition
of the various mood states is essential so that the person who has
manic-depressive
illness can obtain effective treatment and avoid the harmful
consequences
of the disease, which include destruction of personal relationships,
loss
of employment, and suicide.
Manic-depressive illness is often not recognized by the patient, relatives,
friends,
or even physicians.
An
early sign of manic-depressive illness may be hypomania-a state in which the
person
shows a high level of energy, excessive moodiness or irritability,
and
impulsive or reckless behavior.
Hypomania
may feel good to the person who experiences it.
Thus,
even when family and friends learn to recognize the mood swings,
the
individual often will deny that anything is wrong.
Also
in its early stages, bipolar disorder may masquerade
as
a problem other than mental illness. For example, it may first appear as
alcohol
or drug abuse, or poor school or work performance.
If
left untreated, bipolar disorder tends to worsen, and the person experiences
episodes
of full-fledged mania and clinical depresion.
Continue Here
For more information please go to my links or my Webrings
page,
there you will find links
to sites that deal with affective disorders.
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