"What are the Signs and Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder?"
Signs and symptoms of Bipolar Disorder can differ from person to person. Did you know there are actually 3 types of Bipolar Disorder too? This can make this topic confusing but we have done the research and put it together for you in such a way as to attempt to clear things up! We’ll discuss each type plus the cycles.
We’ve also provided you with good news in research of treatments for Bipolar Disorder which you will read below.
"Now for the research…"
The 3 types of Bipolar Disorder are: Bipolar I, Bipolar II, and Cyclothymia. The whole area on signs and symptoms of Bipolar Disorder and the disorder itself, like many disorders involving our brain chemistry, is still under investigation.
Most common of the signs and symptoms of Bipolar Disorder include:- periods of intense happiness (euphoria) - which rotate with periods of deep depression. - but in most cases, there can also be periods of stable mood.
So, therefore, you’re usually looking at a cycle of 3 stages in Bipolar Disorder: intense happiness, profound depression and then stability.
We’ll go into the 3 stages in detail further down…
The following is a quote from a sufferer of signs and symptoms of Bipolar disorder (selected by the United States federal government's National Institute of Mental Health):
“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 of having the friends, colleagues, and family that I do.”
"Signs and Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder- The 3 Types in Detail"
Bipolar I
- you experience full-blown mania (see explanation below) and then steadily switching off to depression - like a continuous cycle.
Bipolar II
- less severe and more common type of the disorder
- you have episodes of hypomania and depression. (What is hypomania? It is a combination of: elevated mood, irritability, racing thoughts, people-seeking, hyper-sexuality, extravagant thinking, religious zeal, and pressured speech.)
Cyclothymia
- a slowly developed bipolar disorder that has short periods of mild depression steadily switching off with short periods of hypomania.
- considered to be a low level form of bipolar disorder. Each phase is separated by short periods of normal mood.
"Signs and Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder: The Cycles"
The cycles of bipolar disorder can be both long and short, and the ups and downs can be different too. For example, if you are suffering from bipolar disorder, you can suffer a long-drawn-out mild depression followed by a shorter and intense mania. The depression periods can seem much worse following a manic period.
If you suffer from bipolar disorder, you can suffer severe depression or mania and then loss of contact with reality. You can start to hear and see things and start to believe things that are completely unreasonable and are unexplainable.
Paranoia can also happen - believing that you are being persecuted or monitored by some big entity like the government.
You can also have intense and unusual religious beliefs - like a strong claim that you have a God-given role to play in the world, a great and historic mission to accomplish, or even that you possess supernatural powers.
Delusions in a depression can be more distressing, sometimes suffering from intense guilt for something that you believe you have inflicted on others.
Okay, More Explanation… More Breakdown…
Part 2>> “What is Mania, Major Depression, Mixed Episodes and Hypomania? Plus Good News for Sufferers!”
Part 2>> “What is Mania, Major Depression, Mixed Episodes and Hypomania? Plus Good News for Sufferers!”
A Bipolar Disorder Success Story!
Good News for Bipolar Type 2 Sufferers
Back to Home from Signs and Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder
Sources:
Wikipedia contributors, "Bipolar disorder," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bipolar_disorder&oldid=46163550 (accessed March 30, 2006).
National Institute of Mental Health, Signs and Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder / http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/manic.cfm (accessed March 30, 2006)
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association, 2000. / http://www.behavenet.com/capsules/disorders/bip1dis.htm (accessed March 30, 2006)
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