Bipolar disorder, also formerly known as manic depression is a mental disorder in which a person experiences mood swings on the emotional high and low sides. That is, he or she experiences mania or hypomania on the high emotional side and depression on the low emotional side. Let us now look at what the symptoms of bipolar disorders are.

What are the symptoms?

Common mood swings are simple in nature and are unlike any instance of bipolar disorder in which a person can experience extreme mood swings, which can last anywhere starting from a few days to several weeks. In many cases, a person may not be in a normal mood at all. Here are some of the common most symptoms of bipolar disorder.

Mania

A person with bipolar disorder goes through the manic phase in which he or she may be highly energetic, jumpy or may have high ambitions. This sudden, drastic increase in energy may cause you to lose sleep and appetite, and could also cause the person in question to talk quickly and become annoyed or irritated easily. Although you may view this phase as a pleasant experience, there are, however, other symptoms involved in this phase such as psychotic episodes wherein you may start seeing or hearing things that aren’t there or worse, even believe things that aren’t true.

Depression

Depression or a major depressive episode is also one of the common symptoms of bipolar disorder. Depression can cause daily activities and routines such as work, school and play to become extremely hard to cope with. This comes along with many other symptoms such as sadness or tearfulness, hopelessness or despair, loss of interest in everything, weight loss due to lack of intake of food, weight gain due to increase in appetite, sleeplessness or insomnia or even sleeping more than required, feeling restless or slowed down, fatigue, feeling worthless or extremely guilty unnecessarily, inability to concentrate or think straight and feelings of committing suicide. 

What are the different types of bipolar disorder?

The symptoms of bipolar disorder can be quite nasty and can cause drastic, unnecessary changes in moods, which can lead to distress and difficulty in doing day-to-day activities. Based on the symptoms, there are several types of bipolar disorder.

Bipolar I disorder

In Bipolar I disorder, you may have experienced at least one episode of mania, hypomania or depression. Manic episodes may also lead to psychosis or loss of a touch of reality.

Bipolar II disorder

In this type, you may experience at least one episode of depression and one episode of hypomania, but not even a single episode of mania.

Cyclothymic disorder

In this type of bipolar disorder, you may experience episodes of hypomania and depression for several periods of time, depending on your age.

Other types of bipolar disorder

These can stem from things such as drugs, alcohol or a pre-existing medical condition such as Cushing’s disease, strokes, and others.

What are the risk factors involved?

Although many people have the risk of bipolar disorder in their genes, not all of them go on to develop one. The disease also has a high risk of inheritability. That is, if a member in the family has developed bipolar disorder, the chances are that another member will also do so, in the future. Furthermore, certain psychological and environmental factors can trigger mania or depression, which are major symptoms of bipolar disorder. So, like this, there are many risk factors involved. Here are some of them.

Is it genetic?

The risk of the disorder is present even in a nuclear family. In that, if a member in your nuclear families such as one of your parents or siblings has the disorder, then the chances of you developing one are high. One study has found that children whose parents had the disorder had a one-third likeliness of developing the disorder or any other severe mental illness by adulthood. Research has also suggested that if your parents have developed the disorder at an early age, the chances are that you will too.

Can high levels of stress be a cause? 

Genes have a profound impact on the development of bipolar disorder. However, genes are not the only risk factors involved. People who have had a traumatic experience in life or those who are under constant stress also have the chance of developing bipolar disorder. The traumatic experience can stem from anything such as neglect during childhood, sexual or physical abuse or even a traumatic experience such as being a witness to the death of parents or loved ones.

Is substance or alcohol abuse a risk factor?

The answer is a big yes. People who are drug or alcohol addicts have high chances of developing bipolar disorder. Although substance use doesn’t directly cause the disorder, it can very well cause extreme mood swings, which are a primary part of the disorder. Side effects of some medications have also been known to cause the disorder. This comes in the form of the trigger of symptoms such as depression, among others. However, substance abuse is the main culprit here, as there are chances of the person abusing the substance to develop psychotic disorders. So, a detox may be required to get rid of it.

Who does it affect the most? A male or a female?

Although bipolar disorder is known to affect both men and women equally, research suggests that women are three times more likely to develop the disorder, regarding experiencing rapid, extreme mood swings. Also, women are also more likely to experience depression and a mixture of episodes of the disorder than men.

Can chemical imbalances in the brain cause a person to develop the disorder?

Although the exact cause of bipolar disorder cannot be zeroed in on, doctors and experts believe that physical, environmental and social factors all work together in combination to make the person develop the disease. However, one of the causes that are of concern is the chemical imbalance in the brain. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that are responsible for the proper functioning of the brain. So, there has been some evidence as to the imbalanced chemicals such as these posing a risk for developing the disorder. For instance, high levels of noradrenaline are believed to result in manic episodes. Likewise, very low levels of it can cause depression. So, dysfunction of certain neurotransmitters in the brain can cause bipolar disorder. There is a definite link between neurotransmitters and mood disorders as the drugs taken to relieve a person suffering from one, does so by altering the neurotransmitters.

Is the social environment a person is living around, also responsible?

As discussed earlier, high levels of stress can lead a person to develop the disorder. However, how exactly stress triggers bipolar disorder is yet to be analyzed. Nevertheless, it is believed that the stress hormone cortisol may have a key role to play. A person under a high level of stress has high levels of cortisol in the body, which can cause major alterations in the brain’s communication and functioning. This is believed to be the mechanism involved in the onset of the disorder. However, a person who has already developed the disorder, need not be under high stress for the cortisol levels to be high. But if the disorder does trigger due to stress, it can progress quite drastically, taking the help of psychological as well as biological processes to keep itself active.

Could the Diathesis-Stress Model act as an indicator?

One of the best explanations for the disorder comes from the Diathesis-Stress Model. Diathesis is nothing but a kind of physical condition that a person has, which makes him or her more prone to diseases and disorders than usual. According to the Diathesis-Stress Model, a person may inherit this susceptibility to certain diseases, which may or may not tend to occur depending on the whether the person is stressed or not.

Are there any coping techniques?

It is said that bipolar disorder affects about 60 million people globally. So, one of the major steps you can take to cope with the disorder is by knowing about it. Read about it. Read how you can cope with it. Some techniques help a person to at least live a normal life, along with the disease, if not overcome it completely.

Additionally, you can also try some natural remedies such as fish oil or the Rhodiola Rosea plant as supplements to keep the symptoms down. Lifestyle changes are also said to be a causing factor for the disease. So, make sure that you’re eating properly, getting an adequate amount of sleep and not to mention, you’re exercising regularly.

These are some of the possible explanations given as to why bipolar disorder tends to occur in some people and not others. However, these are not static and may change from time to time, depending on the situation. There is a need to find treatments for this disorder. Of course, one who has developed it must learn to live with it until he or she finds a cure. There are many ways to do this, and the person must learn these techniques for him to lead a happy and healthy life.

Read More About: Five Easy Homemade Remedies for Acidity