Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive disorder or manic depression, is a mental illness characterized by chronic or episodic patterns. While everyone experiences normal mood fluctuations, bipolar disorder entails extreme mood swings. Individuals may have manic episodes, marked by heightened happiness, irritability, or increased activity, and depressive episodes, involving sadness, indifference, or hopelessness with reduced activity. Some may experience hypomanic episodes, less severe than mania. Symptoms typically emerge in late adolescence or early adulthood, with occasional occurrences in children. Although symptoms may fluctuate, bipolar disorder necessitates lifelong management and does not resolve spontaneously. Proper treatment can enhance functioning and quality of life, as untreated bipolar disorder can contribute to suicide risk, job instability, impaired functioning, and family conflict.

The symptoms of bipolar disorder can vary, encompassing manic episodes, depressive episodes, or mixed episodes that feature both manic and depressive symptoms. These mood episodes typically persist for a week or longer, with symptoms occurring daily for most of the day. Intense feelings accompany noticeable changes in behavior, energy levels, or activity levels. Between episodes, mood typically stabilizes, but without proper treatment, episodes may become more frequent over time.

Bipolar disorder presents in three primary types, each characterized by distinct shifts in mood, energy, and activity levels, ranging from manic to depressive episodes:

• Bipolar I disorder features manic episodes lasting at least 7 days, often requiring hospitalization, alongside separate depressive episodes lasting at least 2 weeks. Episodes with mixed features are also possible, and experiencing four or more episodes of mania or depression within a year is termed “rapid cycling.”
• Bipolar II disorder involves depressive and hypomanic episodes, with the latter being less severe than the manic episodes seen in bipolar I disorder.
• Cyclothymic disorder, or cyclothymia, entails recurrent hypomanic and depressive symptoms that are less intense or of shorter duration than full hypomanic or depressive episodes.