A look at Bipolar disorder and its many facets
Mia Wolfe
Liberty University
Abstract
Bipolar disorder has been around for hundreds of years and it has been called many names. Until recently there was not much help for people suffering with bipolar disorder. Biopolar disorder is like riding an emotional rollercoaster for its host. There is a genetic link and a brain malfunction that causes bipolar disorder. Today there are medications and treatment therapies that reduce the symptoms. Bipolar disorder tends to be the same across the borders and does not discriminate with gender. There is no known prevention, however stress plays a factor. In the future we can hope to find a real cure for bipolar disorder.
Introduction
Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that affects a huge amount of the population. As many as 10 million people are affected in the U.S. alone. There are two phases to the illness, a manic phase and a depressive phase. During the manic phase the individual will experience an unusual elevated mood, energetic feeling, fast speech, and racing thoughts. During a depressive phase the same person may experience extreme sadness, disinterest in activities, and weight loss or gain. The symptoms of mania and depression affect the same areas of functioning; emotional, motivational, behavioral, cognitive, and physical, but they affect them in opposite ways. The DSM-IV-TR distinguishes between two types of this disorder; bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder. In bipolar I disorder both manic and depressive episodes occur and alternate for months or days. Bipolar II disorder has milder manic episodes that alternate with major depressive episodes over the course of time. In both cases the moods swing back and forth and are usually have more depressive episodes than manic ones. The DSM-IV checklist for bipolar disorder defines a manic episode as a period of abnormally and
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