Bipolar disorder - Symptoms and causes

Introduction

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental health condition that can affect your emotions, life and relationships. It's also a lifelong condition, but you can manage it by following your treatment plan. The symptoms of bipolar disorder include mood swings, irritability or extreme happiness, changes in sleep and eating habits, rapid or erratic speech and behavior, trouble thinking clearly and memory problems. But there are other causes of these symptoms besides bipolar disorder.

Overview

Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder that causes extreme mood swings, including high and low states of energy. It can also affect how you function at work, school or in your personal life.

Bipolar disorder can be treated with medications and psychotherapy (talk therapy). It's a lifelong condition but you can manage it by following your treatment plan.

Symptoms

The symptoms of bpad vary from person to person, but they will often include:

• Mania: Extremely elevated moods that can be either euphoric or irritable. People with mania may feel like they're on top of the world and have little interest in anything else. They also may have a strong need for sleep, which can make them appear tired even when they're not physically tired.

• Depression: A feeling of hopelessness and sadness that's accompanied by changes in appetite, sleeping patterns and energy levels. Depression can lead to suicidal thoughts or attempts; if you think someone is depressed and needs help immediately call emergency services!

• Hypomania (mixed episodes): A milder form of mania characterized by alternating periods of feeling normal with heightened activity levels followed by periods where everything seems too much for the individual—they feel overwhelmed by all their responsibilities at once."

Causes

Bipolar disorder is a serious illness that can affect anyone at any time, but it's most common during a person's early or middle adulthood. A genetic predisposition to bipolar disorder may also lead to other mental illnesses—such as major depressive disorder (MDD) and schizophrenia—as well as substance abuse disorders such as alcoholism or drug addiction.

Genetics play a major role in the development of bipolar disorder. If one parent has been diagnosed with the condition, there is about a 50% chance that their child will also develop it; however, if neither parent has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and there isn't another family history of mental illness in either parent's lineage (such as schizophrenia), then it's unlikely that you'll develop this condition yourself without experiencing abnormal periods of mood swings over time

Diagnosis and treatment

• Diagnosis:

Bipolar disorder is diagnosed by a mental health professional. The doctor will ask about your symptoms, family history and medical history. They may also perform tests to determine whether you have a mood disorder like bipolar disorder.

• Treatment:

Treatment options depend on the severity of your symptoms and how often they occur; some people require medication while others may need psychotherapy or both combined with medications in order to manage their condition effectively (see below). Bipolar disorder can be lifelong but with proper treatment it’s possible that symptoms will improve over time so long as they continue taking medications regularly throughout life – even if treatment isn't always easy!

Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition, but you can manage it by following your treatment plan.

Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition, but you can manage it by following your treatment plan. It's important to take your medication as prescribed and get regular checkups with your doctor. It's also important to keep a positive attitude and avoid substance abuse, which can trigger a manic episode in someone with bipolar disorder.

Conclusion

Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition, but you can manage it by following your treatment plan. Bipolar disorder is one of the more common mental health conditions in the United States and affects about 1% of adults. It’s also estimated that as many as 18 million Americans suffer from this illness at some point in their lives. Although it can be difficult to diagnose and treat, there are many different options available for people living with bipolar disorder today.