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Bipolar mood disorder, also known as manic depression, is a treatable illness involving extreme changes in mood, thought, energy, and behavior. A person with bipolar disorder has moods that usually alternate between mania, or extremely "up" mood, and depression, or extremely "down" mood. This change or "mood swing" can last for hours, days, weeks, or even months. Typically, someone with bipolar mood disorder experiences one or two cycles a year, with manic episodes generally occurring in the spring or fall.
On June 15th, an FDA Advisory Panel recommmended approval of the vagus nerve stimulator as a treatment for chronic Bipolar Mood Disorder.
In Jane Pauley's new book, Skywriting: A Life Out of the Blue, she writes openly about the life-changing experience of Bipolar disorder. She was eventually hospitalized in the spring of 2001 with the diagnosis of manic depression. With proper treatment, she is now free of the uncontrollable mood swings.
A distinct period of elevated, enthusiastic or irritable mood lasting at least one week (or less than one week if hospitalization is required), that includes at least three of the following bipolar mood disorder symptoms:
- Increased physical and mental activity and energy
- Exaggerated optimism and self-confidence
- Excessive irritability, aggressive behavior
- Decreased need for sleep without becoming tired
- Grandiose thoughts, extreme sense of self-importance
- Racing speech, racing thoughts
- Impulsiveness, poor judgment
- Reckless behavior such as spending sprees, impulsive business decisions, erratic driving and sexual indiscretions
- In severe cases, delusions and hallucinations
Similar to a manic episode, except that it is less severe and there are no delusions or hallucinations. It is clearly different from an individual`s non-depressed mood with a clear change in activity and attitude, and visible behavior that is unusual or out-of-character.
A period of two weeks or more during which five or more of the following bipolar mood disorder symptoms are present :
- Prolonged sadness or unexplained crying spells
- Significant changes in appetite and sleep patterns
- Irritability, anger, worry, agitation, anxiety
- Pessimism, indifference
- Loss of energy, persistent exhaustion
- Unexplained aches and pains
- Feelings of guilt, worthlessness and/or hopelessness
- Inability to concentrate; indecisiveness
- Inability to take pleasure in former interests; social withdrawal
- Excessive consumption of alcohol or use of chemical substances
- Recurring thoughts of death or suicide
A period during which symptoms of a manic and a depressive episode are present at the same time. People who experience mixed states describe feeling activated and "revved up," but also full of anguish and despair. Rapid, pressured speech can co-exist with impulsive, out-of-control thoughts of suicide and self-destruction or aggression. Hopelessness, irritability, uncontrollable swings between racing thoughts and a feeling of "being in blackness" can all happen over the course of minutes.
Bipolar disorder affects more than two and a half million adult Americans during any given year. The illness usually begins during a person's late teen years, although it can sometimes start in early childhood or as late as a person's 40s or 50s. An equal number of men and women develop this illness, and it affects people of all races, ethnic groups and social classes.
The exact cause of bipolar mood disorder is not known. We do know that it is a brain-based medical illness and that certain structures of the brain related to emotions, behavior, and thinking are affected. Bipolar mood disorder may be related to an imbalance in certain chemicals in the brain, called neurotransmitters. There is a genetic component, meaning the illness runs in families, although genetics does not completely predict who will develop bipolar mood disorder and who will not.
Physicians and researchers agree there are several kinds of bipolar mood disorder. Most people who have the illness experience episodes of mania and periods of depression, but the length, frequency, and pattern of these highs and lows vary. Sometimes individuals with bipolar mood disorder experience frequent mixed states. Some of the different combinations of symptoms may not be medically significant, while others are important enough to be classified as specific types of bipolar disorder that may be treated in very different ways.
This article is reprinted with permission from The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
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