Bipolar Disorder
What is Bipolar Disorder?
Bipolar Disorder is characterized by intense mood swings. For example, you may feel very happy or irritable one moment, but you feel depressed or anxious the next. This cycle repeats itself and can affect sleep and other daily activities.
Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar 1 Disorder: You’ve had at least one manic episode after hypomania or major depressive episodes. In some cases, this may lead to psychosis, which is essentially a break from reality.
Bipolar 2 Disorder: You’ve had hypomanic and depressive episodes, but never a manic episode.
Cyclothymia: You’ve had depressive and hypomanic episodes for at least two years or one year in children and adolescents. This can cause depression slightly less severe than major depression.
Other types can be caused by certain drugs and alcoholic beverages, or disease.
Manic Episodes
This is characterized by elevated or irritable moods. This is a change from your usual self and noticeable by others. This is a very active state, and people who experience it might gamble away a large sum of money or drive recklessly. They can also experience psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions. This is mainly experienced by Bipolar Disorder 1 people, and people with Bipolar Disorder 2 can sometimes experience hypomania, which is a less extreme version of this.
Depressive Episodes
This is characterized by feeling sad or depressed, being in an emotionally low state. This has many similar symptoms to depression, such as tiredness, loss of appetite, loss of interest in activities, and feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness.
Who Does Bipolar Disorder Affect?
The average time Bipolar disorder starts is 25, but sometimes it can start during childhood or when someone is in their 40s to late 50s.
Although males and females are diagnosed with bipolar disorder at around the same amount, it affects them differently.
For example, females tend to switch moods quicker than males, and on average, they tend to be prescribed antidepressants more often. Females also tend to experience more depressive episodes than males on average.
Signs of Depressive Episodes
Overwhelming sadness
Low energy
Lack of motivation
Difficulty making decisions
Uncontrollable crying
Irritability
Excessive sleep or insomnia
A change in appetite that causes weight loss or gain
Suicidal thoughts, suicidal ideation