What is Bipolar Disorder?

Bipolar Disorder and Extreme Mood Changes

Bipolar disorder is a disorder that affects the brain and causes extreme shifts in mood, energy and capacity to function of the individual. It can have drastic results and can confuse other people as to the behavior of the individual affected by bipolar disorder. This disorder usually surfaces or develops in early adulthood but some children and older adults sometimes experience this.

The range of emotion that an individual can manifest is a depressed state where the individual is extremely affected by something or a giddy mania where the affected person is so happy it is almost manic. Although, the individual can also have a normal state where he is neither extremely depressed of maniacally happy. The individual’s normal state is not always disrupted by the disorder so most of the time those who suffer from this disorder are normal.

Misunderstanding Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is an illness that is not usually diagnosed correctly. Sometimes adolescents are often called rebels or just going through teenage angst when they manifest signs of bipolar disorder. The symptoms of bipolar disorder are very common in teenagers and can be misunderstood as them going through a phase. Parents need to be vigilant and observant regarding their child to be able to fully understand and accept that they are indeed suffering from it. Some parents are themselves ashamed to admit or accept that their children may be suffering from the disorder.

Causes of Bipolar Disorder

Many factors correlate with each in causing bipolar disorder. There is no one factor that causes it instead it is an accumulation of factors that are present in one person. Genes are one of the factors that make a person a probable candidate for bipolar disorder. This does not mean, though, that those with it will develop bipolar disorder. Other factors are needed to develop it. These factors are what the researchers and studies are trying to figure out. Ongoing studies and research regarding the disorder may give out recent results regarding medication for the illness.

Bipolar disorder is usually treated with medication and drugs. There is no other effective alternative method to treating this illness. The medication given to individuals who suffer from this disorder is a mood stabilizer medication that helps to prevent manic and depressive episodes. Anti-depressants are not widely accepted as good medication for those suffering from bipolar disorder because many studies have shown that these could make the individual’s state of mind worse than it already is. Discover more about Bipolar Disorder at wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder