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Article Index
Manic Depression – Bipolar Disorder: Facts and Reality
Signs and Symptoms of Depression
Treatment of Bipolar
Alternative Treatments
All Pages

Manic depression - Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person's mood, energy, and ability to function.

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Some mornings can start with overriding feelings of joy, elation and power. By the time the afternoon has arrived this can shift to feelings of desperation, despair and depression.

More than 2 million American adults, or about 1 percent of the population have bipolar disorder, the percentage figures are the same for the United Kingdom.

These figures are only an estimate, the true figures will probably never be accurately known, this is probably due the stigma attached to mental health issues and the signs and symptoms not being correctly spotted by friends, family, professionals and even the individual themselves. It is fair to say that manic depression is under diagnosed.

Signs and Symptoms of Mania (or a Manic Episode)

• Increased energy, activity, and restlessness
• Excessively "high," overly good, euphoric mood
• Extreme irritability
• Racing thoughts and talking quickly, jumping from one idea to another
• Distractibility, lack off concentration
• Little sleep needed
• Unrealistic beliefs in one's abilities and powers
• Poor judgment
• Spending sprees
• A lasting period of behaviour that is different from usual
• Increased sexual drive
• Abuse of drugs, particularly cocaine, alcohol, and sleeping medications
• Provocative, intrusive, or aggressive behaviour
• Denial that anything is wrong

A manic episode is diagnosed if elevated mood occurs with three or more of the other symptoms most of the day, nearly every day, for 1 week or longer. If the mood is irritable, four additional symptoms must be present.

The above signs and symptoms of mania can be very difficult to spot in an individual who has manic depression as all of the EXACT symptoms and time frames may not be prevalent in every person as each individual is unique.

A good example of this would be a rapid cycle manic depressive who in the mornings is high and elated, followed by despair and depression in the afternoons. This rapid cycle could happen for 2 or 3 days then level off for a relative period of calm for a few days before it starts again.

Due to the stigma attached to mental health problems individuals may try and mask their symptoms to avoid any embarrassment they may feel. Thus making it even more difficult to spot and diagnose.

Some of these symptoms of mania may be the only symptoms that you see in a person who has manic depression, as they are easily passed of as having a "larger than life personality"

Disorders - Bipolar Disorder