Mental Illnesses: Bipolar Disorders

Bipolar disorder, more formally known as Manic depression includes emotional episodes and extreme mood swings. There are two forms of this disorder: Bipolar I disorder and Bipolar II disorder. These are both separate diagnoses, used to describe sperate symptoms. The former includes at least one episode,

which can occur before a hypomania or a depressive episode. For context, a hypomanic episode is when an individual is excessively joyful, to the point of irritation(this is one stage before a manic episode). Bipolar II episodes include a depressive episode and one hypomanic episode, but not a manic episode.

Manic and hypomanic episodes:

These are both different diagnoses, however, they contain the same set of symptoms. Manic episodes, however, are more dramatic and are cause more noticeable issues in environments such as school or work and can cause relationship difficulties. Some symptoms generally include:

• Excessively active

• Increased energy, activity, or agitation

• Exaggerated sense of well-being, self-confidence, or grandiosity (leading to feelings of euphoria)

• Decreased need for sleep

• Abnormally social/ Social outbursts

• Racing thoughts

• Distractibility

• Hindered thinking abilities

Bipolar disorders can also include an increase in anxiousness or psychosis. This is the impaired relationship with reality causing hallucinations or delusions. Hallucinations are sensory experiences that occur in the absence of a stimulus, whereas delusions are a beliefs or altered realities (conjured by the mind) that are persistently maintained, even in the face of contradictory evidence.

Causes:

There are typically 3 causes for bipolar disorder:

1. Genetic variations

2. Biological traits

3. Environmental factors

Genetic variations include changes to the genetic coding present in chromosomes, biological traits include imbalances in the release of neurotransmitters or hormones. One biological trait that is found in bipolar disorder is mitochondrial disorder, which leads to abnormal brain energy metabolism. Finally, environmental situations include abuse, mental stress, or other traumatic events can trigger the initial episodes. Normally, it’s a combination of these three factors causing bipolar disorder.

By: Srimaan Sridharan