Exploratory Study on Bipolar Disorder
An Exploratory Study on Bipolar Disorder I. Introduction
Bipolar disorder is a condition that causes psychological and physical problems bad enough to affect everyday life - sometimes seriously. This disorder is also said to be one of the oldest disorders.
According to the DSM-IV-TR, Bipolar Disorder, also known as Manic Depression or Bipolar Affect Disorder, is an extreme condition in which a person constantly changing moods, from a very good mood to a depressive state. A person diagnosed with this disorder can easily be described as a person riding a slow motion roller coaster; patients may spend weeks feeling so good, or “at the top of the world” and then plunge in to depressive states. This disorder affects one’s mood, emotions and behavior.
As earlier stated, a person with this disorder experiences shifts in mood episodes. According to Hoeksema (2011), the patient may experience Mania or Hypomania to Depression. During Depressive episodes, the patient is despairing and fearful, they doubt themselves and everyone around them, they also contemplate on suicide. Symptoms include sadness, anxiety loss of energy, hopelessness and have difficulty concentrating. They also suddenly lose interest in things that were pleasurable to them before. During the manic episodes, the patient has tremendous energy and vibrancy and filled with ideas and confidence. This results to inflated self-esteem, agitation, being too talkative, can easily be distracted, has series of racing thoughts.
The duration of the mood episodes typically lasts from a couple of hours to months. More rarely, people switch from mania to depression and back in a matter of days (Hoeksema, 2012). Between the shifts of moods, patients can actually go back to their daily functioning. Some people with the disorder can enjoy healthy, stable mood for many years between episodes, while others rapidly go in and out of mood episodes almost continually, while still others experience mood episodes at
Bipolar disorder is a condition that causes psychological and physical problems bad enough to affect everyday life - sometimes seriously. This disorder is also said to be one of the oldest disorders.
According to the DSM-IV-TR, Bipolar Disorder, also known as Manic Depression or Bipolar Affect Disorder, is an extreme condition in which a person constantly changing moods, from a very good mood to a depressive state. A person diagnosed with this disorder can easily be described as a person riding a slow motion roller coaster; patients may spend weeks feeling so good, or “at the top of the world” and then plunge in to depressive states. This disorder affects one’s mood, emotions and behavior.
As earlier stated, a person with this disorder experiences shifts in mood episodes. According to Hoeksema (2011), the patient may experience Mania or Hypomania to Depression. During Depressive episodes, the patient is despairing and fearful, they doubt themselves and everyone around them, they also contemplate on suicide. Symptoms include sadness, anxiety loss of energy, hopelessness and have difficulty concentrating. They also suddenly lose interest in things that were pleasurable to them before. During the manic episodes, the patient has tremendous energy and vibrancy and filled with ideas and confidence. This results to inflated self-esteem, agitation, being too talkative, can easily be distracted, has series of racing thoughts.
The duration of the mood episodes typically lasts from a couple of hours to months. More rarely, people switch from mania to depression and back in a matter of days (Hoeksema, 2012). Between the shifts of moods, patients can actually go back to their daily functioning. Some people with the disorder can enjoy healthy, stable mood for many years between episodes, while others rapidly go in and out of mood episodes almost continually, while still others experience mood episodes at