Depression, Anxiety and Panic Attacks

In bipolar disorder, depressive symptoms in the list for self-testing are only valid for a particular phase of the disease. For other phase, when you have mania, when you feel great joy, these symptoms are completely different.

Symptoms of Mania (Bipolar Disorder):

• Unusual feeling of happiness, joy, or frustration.
• Ability to live without sleep for several days.
• Talkativeness: you speak and can not stop.
• You quickly distracted.
• You quickly and spontaneously create a lot of new ideas.
• You are doing good for yourself, but it leads to undesirable consequences: spend a lot of money, with the unusual activity have sex.
• Feeling great importance of your own person.
• You have plenty of plans to carry out big business and important changes in your life, you are restless, feel the constant need to move.

The simultaneous presence of several of these symptoms for at least one week (with the required presence of the first of them) will be an indication of the state of mania. In such self-test results, you should seek medical advice.

Tags: symptom, bipolar disorder , mania, depressive symptoms

Rapid Cycling

Some people have mood disorder that often changes its direction, making the transitions back and forth between depression, mania and hypomania. If these cyclical episodes occur four or more times a year, it is one of the rare forms of bipolar disorder – Rapid Cycling. Patients are usually prescribed receiving lithium, mood stabilizers – anticonvulsants, alone or in combination with lithium.

Dysphoric Mania or Hypomania

Some people suffer from dysphoric, or a sullen, mania, in which patients are more submissive, than patients with normal mania. Young people most frequently suffer from Dysphoric Mania. Dysphoric mania poorly treatable with lithium therapy. Usually prescribed anticonvulsants – separately or in combination with lithium.

Mixed Bipolar

Some severely affected by the disease people can experience both depression and mania. Such patients with a mix of violation of an emotional reaction, we say that they have a mixed state – Mixed Bipolar. There is still much unknown in the issue of mixed bipolar. As a concept, it is a transitional phase between depression and mania, in which patients seem to “stick” during an attack of illness. In this form of bipolar disorder patients do not always receptive to treatment with lithium and antidepressants. In this case, doctors suggest reception of stabilizers of emotional reactions — anticonvulsants.

Cyclothymia (cyclothymic disorder)

Cyclothymia, or cyclothymic disorder is softened and mild, but longer lasting form of bipolar disorder type I, when the emotional reaction makes the transitions between hypomania and mild depression. With Cyclothymia short and occasional bouts of depression and hypomania last not weeks, but only a few days. Cyclothymia is diagnosed in adults in the presence of short and irregular bouts of depression and hypomania occurring within a period not less than 2 years with no more than two-month absence of symptoms. Cyclothymia often develops between the ages of 15 to 25 years.

Tags: Bipolar Disorder, Dysphoric Mania, Hypomania, Mixed Bipolar, Rapid Cycling, mania, disorder, bipolar, depression, hypomania, lithium, cyclothymia, cyclothymic disorder, dysphoric, Treatment, mood disorder

Bipolar disorder. General information

When the emotional response makes jumps between its extreme positions – between severe depression and mania – this version of the disease called “Bipolar Disorder, Type I“. When the mood swings occur in a narrow range between depression and hypomania – this form is called ” Bipolar Disorder, Type II“.

Attacks of bipolar disorder may occur and evolve differently. Much of the disorder begins with a depressive state. Depression alternates with mania, and these phases follow one another in a few days, weeks or months. In between mania and depression, some patients have normal mood, while others have several episodes of mania. Some patients suffering from bipolar depression, there are only episodes of depression and only occasionally there are episodes of mild hypomania. Others have frequently recurring mania and only occasionally they have depression. And there is such a group of patients who have both depression and mania.

People experiencing manic period of bipolar disorder may seem cheerful and happy. At this time the person needs less sleep, he feels extraordinary creativity, full of energy and enthusiasm. The main danger is that in periods of manic excitement goes out of control. Man loses mind sobriety, prudence and common sense. People often spend a lot of money, play games of chance, take hasty and rash decisions, have risky sex.

In most cases, manic episodes alternate with periods of depression. Sometimes a change of mood in the opposite happens in one day. Risk of suicide in bipolar disorder is higher than for other types of depression. During the depressive phase of illness there are the same symptoms as in major depression.

Treatment of Bipolar Disorder

Most sufferers of bipolar depression can be quite successfully treated with medication. Perhaps, medication may need to take a lifetime. Although the types of drugs change from depression to normal, and then to mania and back to depression, normal, mania, etc. Without treatment, the threat of death by accident or suicide in patients with bipolar depression is very high.

According to many doctors, as a useful method of treatment of mania can be viewed and psychotherapy. It helps to convince the patient of the need to constantly, throughout his life, to take drugs.

Bipolar depression can be cured completely. However, early initiation of treatment helps to delay and soften the attacks of the disease in the future, makes them not so heavy and not so dangerous.