Bipolar (manic-depressive) Disorder

Rachel

December 6, 2004

KONOS History of the World

Bipolar disorder, recently known as manic depression, is a disease or illness that causes people to have very wide-range mood changes. The word bipolar indicates the two extremes, mania and depression, which characterize this disorder. Each time someone experiences either symptom for at least one week, it is called an episode; experiencing 4 or more episodes of mania and/or depression in a year is called rapid-cycling bipolar disorder.

There are four main mood episodes included in bipolar disorder: Mania, Hypomania, Depression, and Mixed Mood. Mania is a distinct time during which the person is in an irritable mood, lasting at least one week. Hypomania is like mania only milder, and lasts at least four days. Depression is when the person is either depressed or has lost interest in almost everything; this lasts at least two weeks. Mixed Mood is a period in time when a person goes through both mania and depression symptoms almost every day for at least one week.

Bipolar Disorder affects different people in different ways; therefore, not everyone gets the same type of treatment. There are many medications that are used today, but it is up to the doctor and patient with the disorder to figure out which medications to use. "Talk therapy" is talking to a professional therapist to help the patient understand the illness and figure out what triggers an episode. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the use of mild electrical shocks to the brain, causing a short seizure, which relieves the episode. This treatment is usually set aside for people with severe episodes of mania or depression. Nobody has discovered the cause of bipolar disorder. If the cause is discovered, then maybe it can be prevented or more effectively treated.