Bipolar Disorder

Mental Illnesses

Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar Disorder (also known as manic-depressive disorder), is an illness in the brain that causes persistent changes in an individual’s mood and overall performance throughout life. It can cause horrible damage to an individual’s marriage, family and job.

Bipolar disorder is believed to be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Scientific researchers have come up with a number of mind-bending theories that focus on the causes of bipolar, such as little cellular organ like things called Mitochondria. Another example that they have come up with is the serotonin levels in an individual’s brain. People suffer from low levels of serotonin during depression lows and usually have to be prescribed medication to keep serotonin levels balanced. Long periods of deep depression could lead to bipolar later on in life. Neurotransmitters, chemical messages from the brain that shuttle nerve impulses, have also been linked to individuals with mood disorders. These people have a defect with the way their brain handles neurotransmitters. In addition, researchers believe that Bipolar can also run in families, which is why they have been trying to look for specific genes that could cause this. Children with one affected parent have a 25% chance of developing the disorder and children with two affected parents have a 50% chance. However, if gene findings suggest bipolar disorder it cannot just be the one single gene that is causing the problem. The factors of that person or the person’s environment must be tied in the mix to produce the disorder.

The most common symptom that is associated with bipolar is the obvious changes in one’s mood with periods of depression. There are four types of mood changes: Mania, Hypomania, Depression, and Mixed Episode. Mania is when an individual experiences heightened energy and creativity. These people tend to talk very fast and hardly get any sleep. Hypomania is a lower, more stable form than mania. People who go through the Hypomania episode feel very energetic and productive, however not as severe as the mania episode. These people never suffer from any delusions or hallucinations. Hypomania usually escalates to a massive mania episode and is then followed by a major depression episode. The bipolar depression is much different from regular depression due to the fact that people experience low energy and long periods of sleep. Bipolar depression can also escalate to psychotic depression which is when an individual loses themselves from reality. This is a very dangerous stage of depression, with suicide being