If asked, “What is bipolar disorder?” Extreme mood swings are the first things that are most likely to appear in your mind. You may have interacted with a patient suffering from bipolar disorder at school, home, an event, or even at your workplace but never noticed. Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition, but it can be well managed with a suitable treatment plan.

For easy understanding, bipolar disorder is a mental condition that is associated with illogical thinking, hallucination, unusual agitation, and lack of sleep. These symptoms can affect the patient’s daily activities, level of judgment, energy levels, and even the ability to think well and make good decisions.

This article has been written by our professional academic writing team. It contains detailed information about bipolar disorder to help you write your assignment. As you read, some of the information you will encounter includes the various types of bipolar disorder, bipolar disorder treatment, signs, and symptoms, and the relationship between depression and bipolar disorder, among others. If you have any questions concerning academic writing, do not hesitate to contact us for professional assistance.

Deeper Understanding of Bipolar Disorder

Generally, bipolar disorder is a condition that affects an individual’s mental health. Both men and women can equally have bipolar disorder. Although it can affect a person at any age, primarily teenagers between the age of fourteen to nineteen get involved, and it rarely affects adults beyond forty years. This condition can be inherited by children from their parents.

Bipolar disorder can be caused by conditions that switch your mood from extremely high to extremely low. The unforeseen changes in behavior and mood result in difficulty in life and distress. These changes can occur multiple times per day or even a week.

An individual suffering from bipolar disorder may also possess other symptoms like delusions and hallucinations. That can even lead them to have self-harm episodes and even suicidal thoughts. It can lead to disorganized families, work relationships, and even loss of jobs. 

What are the Types of Bipolar Disorder?

Below we will discuss the various types of bipolar disorder.

Bipolar I Disorder 

With this kind of bipolar disorder, the patient shows episodes of manic that are followed by hypomanic episodes. In most cases, mania triggers psychosis. A manic and hypomanic episode is a highly irritable mood followed by extreme energy levels, excessive rapid speech and thoughts, feeling invulnerable, and recklessness.

Bipolar II Disorder

This composes hypomanic and manic episodes that last for at least a week and depressive episodes that can persist for weeks. These episodes can get the patient hospitalized.

Cyclothymic Disorder

This is a condition where episodes of feeling extremely excited and happy are followed by episodes of feeling extremely sad when you don’t get enough sleep and feel that you have so much energy. In this case, the extreme episode of low are not severe and do not last long enough to be diagnosed as clinical depression. That can go for at least two years.

Bipolar Disorder Not Otherwise Specified 

This type of disorder is usually diagnosed when a patient shows symptoms of bipolar disorder but doesn’t meet all the criteria for Bipolar I or Bipolar II Disorder.  

Features of Bipolar Disorder

Both hypomania and mania episodes have the same features. The difference is that mania periods are a bit more severe than hypomania. They contribute to difficulties at work, with friends and families. It triggers incidences that break an individual from reality leading to hospitalization.

Below are some of the notable features of bipolar disorder

• Distractibility in thoughts and speeches
• Recklessness in decision-making. That could be spending habits, intimate decisions, and investment decisions.
• No sleep, decreased sleep requirement, or oversleeping
• High incidences of euphoria
• Increased rate of irritability and agitation
• Abnormally jumpy, upbeat, and wired
• Abnormal anxiety levels

Causes of Bipolar Disorder 

Our researchers have not ascertained the real causes of bipolar disorder. Environmental, physical, and social conditions contribute to bipolar disorder. These factors include:

Childhood trauma

Bipolar disorder can develop because of the emotional distress a child experiences. The experiences such as losing a parent, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and traumatic events such as bullying or neglect can affect the ability of a person to control their emotions in their adult life.

Stressful life events

Events such as job loss, divorce, poverty, near-death experiences, harassment, loneliness, culture shocks, and academic pressure, among others, are some of the stressful life events that can trigger emotions and moods.

Genetics

If you have bipolar disorder, you most likely inherited it from your family. If not genetically inherited, it can be because of your family environment. Where you grew up as a child contributes a lot to your adult life. Some unpleasant things that you experienced or saw a family member go through can be triggers that contribute to your bipolar symptoms.

Alcohol, drugs, and medication

You can experience symptoms of depression, hypomania, and mania from consuming alcohol, hard drugs, or even some psychiatric medications such as antidepressants.

Bipolar Disorder vs. Depression 

Bipolar disorder can easily be mistaken for depression because both have many similarities. They both have some significant differences. It is essential to learn how to compare bipolar disorder vs. depression so that you can know the proper treatment to seek.

Individuals with bipolar disorder have episodes of mania and hypomania, while people with depression don’t experience episodes of mania. 

Depression is a feeling of emptiness, hopelessness, restlessness, and worthlessness. It can be identified by concentration problems, changes in appetite, and sleep problems. Bipolar disorder patients experience extreme mood swings. They experience episodes of great highs and episodes of depression.

Bipolar disorder patients experience both the highs and lows of the emotional spectrum. You can go through hypomanic periods for days, hours, weeks, or even months before shifting into manic episodes. The manic episodes can last for days, two months, or more.

It is possible to experience both manic and hypomanic episodes simultaneously. You may feel restless and sad at the same time.

Treatment for Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder treatment comes right after the mental health expert has conducted several tests, correctly assessed the proper diagnosis, and ruled out other underlying issues which could be causing these symptoms. To administer the appropriate treatment for bipolar disorder, the mental health expert may ask you to keep daily records of your sleep patterns, activities, and emotional changes.

The experts then analyze and evaluate the emotions, feelings, and thoughts. They may also need to talk to friends, colleagues, and family to gather information about the patient’s condition. Bipolar disorder treatment is administered to:

• Prevent the events of suicide and self-harm
• Reduce the severity and frequency of bipolar disorder
• Enable the bipolar patient to conduct their daily activities and be able to control their feelings and emotions while in social settings.

Prevention of Bipolar Disorder

When detected early, bipolar disorder can be prevented from getting to advanced stages. However, there is no sure way that bipolar disorder can be prevented. Suppose you have been tested, assessed, and diagnosed with bipolar disorder at its early stages. In that case, the following strategies can be applied to prevent it from getting to a full-blown period of depression or mania.

Pay attention to early signs and symptoms

Testing and getting into an effective treatment plan can help to prevent bipolar disorder episodes from getting worse. If you have identified signs of bipolar episodes and their triggers, it would be best if you immediately visit your doctor. You can ask your roommates, family, friends, or colleagues to help you watch the warming signs of bipolar disorder.

Avoid alcohol and drug use

Alcohol consumption and drug use can worsen the mania and hypomania episodes or make them return. 

Take your medications in the correct dosage

Reducing your dose, altering the time, or stopping medication will likely make your bipolar disorder symptoms return or worsen.

Bipolar Disorder Medications

The bipolar disorder doses and types of medications are administered based on symptoms experienced. The medications include;

Mood stabilizers

To control the episodes of manic and hypomanic, you need to be on mood-stabilizing medication.

Antipsychotics

These medications can be prescribed along with mood stabilizers. They are used when symptoms of mania persist.

Antidepressants

Doctors prescribe antidepressants to manage manic episodes. Antidepressants are prescribed along with antipsychotics or mood stabilizers. That is because when administered alone, they can trigger manic episodes.

Anti-anxiety medications

These are medications prescribed short-term to help reduce anxiety levels and improve sleep.

What is the Conclusion of Personality Disorder?

Behavior, feelings, and thoughts influence how individuals with bipolar disorder respond to different situations. In manic episodes, they can make reckless decisions like wanting to commit suicide. If not well managed, bipolar disorder can cause a person to ruin their career, friendships, and family.

Once you identify some bipolar disorder symptoms, immediately visit a mental health specialist to prevent the symptoms from getting to advanced levels. In some cases, therapy and counseling can be the best ways of approaching bipolar disorder at the initial stage.

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