Essential Overview on Bipolar Depression Characteristics

Bipolar disorder in psychiatry is a medical diagnosis which refers to mania (mixed states or hypomania) alternated with euthymic or depressed mood (clinical depression) within a specific duration of time.

Compared to ups and downs experienced by normal people, a person affected by a bipolar disorder can have extreme swings of moods which can last for a few minutes or even months. Changes in moods are often associated with disruption and distress with high suicidal tendencies. There are also instances linking bipolar disorder to extreme functioning. Most creative talents are attributing bipolar disorder on their creativity.

A bipolar disorder is categorized either as Type I or Type II. In Type I, a person may experience a full-blown mania. In Type II, the "highs" of a person never exceed the hypomania stage unless it was triggered by the mania medications.

During manic periods, psychosis may occur. Rapid cycling is also possible. When talking about bipolar disorder, severity and problems connected with moods have its own variations. Thus, a bipolar spectrum disorder concept is employed more often which includes cyclothymia.

A bipolar disorder is involving periods of abnormally agitated moods which adds to the depressed mood condition. The intensity and duration of mood condition widely varies among people diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. Moods can fluctuate from one state to another causing improved functioning or impairment depending on the highs and lows of moods and its severity. The energy level, social rhythms, cognitive functioning, activity level, and sleep pattern is also altered affecting the normal routine of a person.

The depression experienced by people having a bipolar disorder is similar to a clinical depression. The symptoms include persistent feelings of anxiety, sadness, anger, guilt, hopelessness, and isolation, appetite and sleep disturbances, fatigue, escapism, lack of interest on things once enjoyed, problems concentrating, indifference or apathy, self-loathing, social anxiety or shyness, chronic pain, irritability, and suicidal tendencies.

When talking about disability, loss of productive years, potential suicidal tendency and duration, the periods of depression in a bipolar disorder are widely recognized today as the most severe problem of an individual. Sometimes, the mania periods are more disruptive and noticeable to other people.

Some types of serious depression are also accompanied by psychosis symptoms. It includes hallucinations (seeing, hearing, or sensing stimuli perceive to be there although it is not), delusions (false beliefs of a person that aren't subject to contradictory evidence or reason and aren't explained by a cultural concept), and escapism (creating diversions mentally to escape from unpleasant and perceived phases of stress).

These people may be also affected with paranoid thoughts that a powerful entity is monitoring or persecuting them. Some may think that those people who are close to them are conspiring and bullying against them. Greater levels of anxiety are felt without a cause. They felt that their family or friends are giving them up or leaving them.

Unusual and intense religious beliefs is also present, thus some people strongly insists that historic and great missions are given to them to be accomplished believing that they have supernatural powers. Delusions can be more distressing in depressions. It is manifested in the form of a strong guilt for things that are supposedly done wrong inflicting the lives of other people.

Numerous conflicting theories are created considering different causes associated with bipolar disorder. Nevertheless, nothing is accepted widely as correct.

The primary nature of a bipolar disorder is flux. It is the state of mental operation wherein a person is immersed fully on what she or he is doing, accompanied with a feeling of full involvement, energized focus, and success during the activity process. The biological markers of a bipolar disorder include mood, energy, sleep, activity, and thought. The bipolar disorder's diagnostic subtypes are sometimes static snapshots of the descriptions of the continual changes of an illness.

According to the US NIMH (United States National Institute of Mental Health), there is no predetermined cause of a bipolar disorder. However, lots of factors are acting together to create the illness.

This disorder also runs in families, thus most researchers are searching for a specific gene which increases the possibility of developing the disease. Most findings suggest that the disorder is caused by multiple genes similar to other mental diseases.

Depression Symptom Experienced By Bipolar Patients

Different illnesses often cause a lot of confusion among people. In recorded history, depression has been already cited. If you're familiar with Job and King David, they suffered from such disorder.

Even Hippocrates mentioned about depression, but at that time, it was referred as melancholia which literarily meant black bile. Medical physiology before humored about the four fluids including black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm. Arts and literature was also able to portray depression for many years. But today, what is meant by a depressive disorder?

Depressive disorders are not new, in fact, for many years people suffered from it without getting any treatment. Millions of people at present are not even aware that they have the disorder.

And those that are already aware of it don't want to accept such fact because they think it's quite embarrassing. Like other illnesses, depressive disorders are divided into types. People are familiar with major depression, dysthymia, and bipolar disorder.

A person suffers from major depression if he or she exhibits symptoms of sad mood, inability to work, eat, sleep, and enjoy. The patient's lives are greatly affected. Dysthymia is less severe compared to major depression.

Long term symptoms can be noted and some even have major depression episodes. Bipolar disorder involves depression or mania cycles. And though it can't be cured, the patients can still control and stabilize their episodes through treatments or medications.

Depressive disorders have many symptoms. And when a bipolar patient is in a cycle of depression, all depressive disorder symptoms can be experienced. However, if the person is in the cycle of mania, he will only experience symptoms associated with the cycle.

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Here is a list of the depression symptoms felt by bipolar patients:

The following symptoms are not all felt by a bipolar patient. Some of them may experience only few of the symptoms while others may experience many. Each individual exhibits varying degrees of symptom severity.

In order to get the appropriate treatment, you must undergo a complete psychological and physical evaluation. This is necessary in order to determine the type of depressive illness that he or she is suffering. Bipolar depression symptoms may be caused by certain medical conditions or medications. Through a physician's interview, laboratory tests, and physical examination, the possibilities can be ruled out.

A diagnostic evaluation will look into the patient's history of symptoms and the physician will ask all sorts of questions like when the symptoms begun, how long it lasts, how severe, and if the symptoms already occurred.

You will also be asked if you were previously treated and what medications were given to you. The doctor must also not forget to ask if the bipolar patient used drugs or alcohol, or if he or she ever thought about suicide and death. Questions pertaining to the medical history of family members should not be forgotten.

Bipolar depression symptoms can also affect the mental status of an individual. The evaluation can determine if an individual's thought pattern, speech, and memory is already affected.

Mental disorders don't require laboratory tests such as x-ray or blood tests. Powerful scans like MRI, CT, PET, and SPECT can't detect the brain changes of a bipolar patient and that of other mental illnesses.

Only the doctor can properly evaluate a bipolar patient's state. He can also aid the patient in getting the right treatment or medication necessary to control episodes. The symptoms need not frighten the patient's family or friends.

Although the symptoms may seem quite normal for the individual, it still needs to be treated. It can be very alarming for other people because they might think that you're insane, especially if you're already doing extreme things.

Don't hesitate to consult your doctor. Check out the major symptoms of bipolar, and if you exhibit a few of the symptoms, perhaps you're suffering from bipolar.