Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a persons mood, energy, and ability to function. Different from the normal ups and downs that everyone goes through, the symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe. They can result in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, and even suicide. But there is good news: bipolar disorder can be treated, and people with this illness can lead full and productive lives.

Bipolar definition
Bipolar, or manic-depressive disorder, is a mood disorder that causes radical emotional changes and mood swings, from manic highs to depressive lows. The majority of bipolar individuals experience alternating episodes of mania and depression.

Bipolar disorder typically develops in late adolescence or early adulthood. However, some people have their first symptoms during childhood, and some develop them late in life. It is often not recognized as an illness, and people may suffer for years before it is properly diagnosed and treated. Like diabetes or heart disease, bipolar disorder is along-term illness that must be carefully managed throughout a person s life.
“Manic-depression distorts moods and thoughts, incites dreadful
behaviors, destroys the basis of rational thought, and too often erodes
the desire and will to live. It is an illness that is biological in its origins,
yet one that feels psychological in the experience of it; an illness that is
unique in conferring advantage and pleasure, yet one that brings in its
wake almost unendurable suffering and, not infrequently, suicide.
“I am fortunate that I have not died from my illness, fortunate in
having received the best medical care available, and fortunate in having
the friends, colleagues, and family that I do.”
(more detailed article will appear in the next post)
Resource
Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D., An Unquiet Mind, 1995, p. 6.