Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder where a patient experiences extreme mood swings. One minute they can experience extreme mania and the next they are depressed. In severe cases a patient may have suicidal tendencies. If these trends sound familiar to you because you may be affected by the disease or know someone affected by it don’t worry, you’re not alone. Some Bipolar disease facts show that more than 22 million Americans suffer from Bipolar, but continual research and advances are being gained on the disease and the good news is that Bipolar disease can be controlled to a certain extent.

So apart from what has already been mentioned, let me list down the myths about Bipolar, some bipolar disease facts and what kind of treatments can be used for the disease.

Myths:

• Bipolar is only a mood disorder– Bipolar disease fact is that it is a mood disorder but it also affects the ability to reason and perform mental tasks and even disrupts sleep patterns.
• Mania is an extreme high so it must mean happiness, which is a good thing –Mania can make a person take bad risks, have sleep disorders, and psychotic thoughts.
• Bipolar disorder can be caused by drugs and alcohol abuse – Bipolar disease fact is that the disorder stems from our genes and life experiences which determine our capabilities to handle stressors in our lives. This myth probably originated from the very real fact that those with bipolar disease resort to greater use of alcohol and drugs. For any other person without bipolar, alcohol and drugs is not a contributing factor.
• There’s only one type of bipolar disease/disorder – There’s actually Bipolar I and II, Cyclothymic bipolar disorder, rapid cycling bipolar disorder and mixed bipolar disorder.

Truths:

• Bipolar is also known as Manic-depressive illness
• Only about 10-15% of all Bipolar sufferers have committed suicide over time
• Those suffering from bipolar disease can live normal lives and hold down jobs.
• Medication dosages vary from patient to patient. There may be side effects on the first dosage; from there you can work something out with your doctor for a dosage that is best suited for you.

Treatment:

The best treatment for bipolar disease is medication and psychotherapy and trying one’s best to live a balanced and healthy lifestyle mentally, physically, emotionally and even spiritually. Nonetheless, I know some people who have done away completely with medication because their religious leaders have condemned them for not having enough faith for a healing by being on meds. But a wise friend said that God provides the tools to combat the diseases we face in our lives. Medication is of great assistance when taken responsibly and at the appropriate dosage and time.

If you know someone with bipolar disease, the best help you can give is to be understanding and patient and encouraging. Ensure that they take their medication, have good nutrition and rest. I hope these bipolar disease facts have helped you in one way or another and I wish you well as you try and combat the disorder. Should you wish to read up more on bipolar disorder, check out what others have to say about it on

The Brain

There is strong evidence that bipolar disorder causes have a lot to do with brain chemistry. More specifically, doctors believe that three chemicals in the brain known as neurotransmitters (noradrenalin, serotonin, and dopamine) in the brain are at least partly responsible for the disease when they are not balanced correctly. These neurotransmitters are known to affect the psychotic mood of individuals and when not working properly, can cause severe depression and bipolar disorder.

Lifestyle and Environment

Lifestyle and environment play an important role in bipolar disorder causes. For example, it is shown that children of bipolar parents and those who live through stressful living standards, alcoholic parents, and parents with severe mood swings, money problems, and abuse in the family can all contribute to brain dysfunctions including bipolar disorder.

Depression and mania

In this mental illness we describe the moods as depression and mania or low and high with hypomania somewhere in the middle.

* depression: is the experience of low feeling – to the point of depression and
* mania: is the high feeling
* hypomania: slightly less severe of the mania symptoms

Both extremes of depression and mania symptoms of bipolar disorder have a number of other associated symptoms. Unlike the simple mood swings that we go through every day, bipolar disorder extreme episodes can last a few hours to several weeks or longer. These high and low phases of the mental illness are often so severe that they interfere with the patient’s everyday life.

The pattern of mood swings also varies widely between each person going through bipolar. For example, some patients will only have a couple of what we call episodes throughout their life, and will be stable in between, while many others will go through many episodes throughout their lifetime.

Treatment

Things such as lack of sleep and unhealthy diets can also greatly contribute to the risk of developing the bipolar disorder. Treatments for the disease can be experimented with but there is no fix all cure. A healthy diet, a positive and consistent lifestyle, and even therapy can help to reduce the symptoms of bipolar disorder.

It is important to discuss any symptoms of the disease with a doctor as soon as they become apparent in order to help decrease mood swings and other problems that come along with the disease.

Nature of Bipolar Disorder

Many people are still confused on what to believe about the nature and diagnosis of the disease. One classic myth states that bipolar manic depressive disorder is a single identifiable disorder. Actually, bipolar is categorized as a class of mood disorder where a person suffers episodes of depression and mania or mixed states. In between episodes, a bipolar patient may not show any symptoms.

Another belief states that this mental condition cannot be diagnosed in its early stages. That is not exactly true. While there are no physical tests involved in diagnosing bipolar disorder, more accurate diagnosis is performed using psychiatric laboratory tests and psychiatric rating scales, which involve the patient's medical and psychiatric history and notes of observable behavior.

While most bipolar patients are adults, it was somehow generalized that children do not get bipolar. Actually, infants can show signs of the disease at a very early age. Although the symptoms on both children and adults are often mistaken as part of growing up or growing old, severe mood changes needs to be taken seriously. A complete physical examination and psychological evaluation must be in order.

Lastly, many believe that bipolar manic depressive disorder is a rare condition. The “Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation” estimate at least three quarters of a million of American Children and teens is suffering from the disease. According to WebMD.com, about 5.7 million American adults are suffering from this mental condition.  A lot of people believe that this condition is just another name for mood swing, the mood swings of bipolar patient is more severe, lasting and may interfere with normal activities.

On Treatment

Many believe that depression is just a state of mind and it does not really require all those pills and therapy. They believe that by thinking positively, bipolar episodes will just go away. Bipolar manic depressive disorder is as real as diabetes or cancer, which needs immediate treatment. It requires more than "snapping out of it" to feel better.

People are normally anxious about taking medications. Among bipolar patients, the fear that medications can cause side effects, addiction and change of one's personality is prevalent. Actually, doctors prescribe medications with specific instructions and dosages to their use. This way, they will never become addictive. Medications helps keep mood episodes stable and even, not cloud a person's judgment. To some, this disease can be a lifetime battle. Hence the myth that people with bipolar will never get better. A patient who is correctly diagnosed and treated enjoys greater chances of living a stable, normal and healthy life.

Reminder

One must remember that bipolar manic depressive disorder symptoms, diagnosis and treatment are different from patient to patient. The disease looks very different to different people. Some people are prone to mania, some to depression. Some immediately react positively to medications, some do not. Hence, it is never safe to generalize opinions about this condition. Seeking truth in every bipolar myth is the key to fully understanding the demands and calls of this preventable, treatable and manageable mental health condition.

Nature of Bipolar Manic Depression

Bipolar causes vary from patient to patient. Although factors like neurochemical imbalance, genetics and environmental stresses were found to influence the development of this brain disorder, the exact cause of this disease it yet to be discovered. Biological disorders such as damage to certain regions of brain due to neurotransmitter malfunction also leads to the progression of the disorder. And as a biological disorder, it can be dormant and be activated with various forms of daily stressors.

Genetics

Bipolar disorder is a disease can run in the family. A family medical history that includes the disorder is a known bipolar cause. A person with parents diagnosed of bipolar disorder has 15 to 25 percent chance of developing this disease. Greater risks are suffered by individuals with twins who are diagnosed of the disease.

Imbalance to Brain Chemicals

Imbalance to brain chemicals or neurotransmitters is one of the known biological bipolar causes. The disease may progress from having high levels of serotonin, dopamine or norepinephrine. This condition may result from the sudden change in the sensitivity of the receptors of nerve cells or reaction to overwhelming stress.

Stressors

Stressful events in daily life can trigger manic depressive episodes. A person with genetic disposition for this brain disorder is highly likely to experience bouts of extreme mood shifts. Unhealthy lifestyle and habits like frequent and high alcohol intake, drug abuse and hormonal problems promote bipolar episodes. Although substance abuse is not included in the list of bipolar causes, it is a factor that can worsen the illness as it interferes with the patient's road to full recovery.

Also, emotional issues like loss of a job, death of a loved one, moving and adjusting to a new environment and birth of a child put any person under stress. Experiencing overwhelming emotions can trigger the symptoms of bipolar disorder. Together, emotional, mental and environmental stressors can establish a cycle of abnormal psychological and biological processes that can keep the disorder active.

Medication

Medication is seen as one of the unlikely bipolar causes. When bipolar drugs are prescribed to effectively cope with bothersome and debilitating bipolar symptoms, drugs like antidepressants and antimanic may cause adverse effects. Incorrect or prolonged usage of antidepressants or antimanic drugs leads to drug-induced manic episodes. Certain drugs can produce effects that resemble mania, which results to increased energy, increased talkativeness and sleeping problems. Such medications include cocaine and amphetamines, appetite suppressants, cold preparations and nonpsychiatric medications like corticosteroids.

Who may Develop Bipolar Disorder?

Anyone can develop bipolar disorder or bipolar manic depression. According to PsychCentral.com, about 2 million Americans are diagnosed of this disease. Although a few risk factors increase the likelihood of developing the disease, it affects male and female population at the same rate.

Early Treatment of Bipolar Disorder Children

The benefits of early diagnosis of bipolar in children are many, but perhaps the most important fact is, their chances of being successfully treated and living normal lives are greatly improved. However, being children, providing treatment for them can be an extremely sensitive issue as parents and doctors often don't agree. In many cases, doctors favor medication as the primary treatment and recommend therapy only to augment the medication bipolar kids receive. On the other hand, a large percentage of parents and an increasing number of psychologists don't believe this to be the ideal course of action.

Of course it's understandable for parents to feel this way when one considers the effects which these medications can have on a child's personality traits. In fact, it's not only children, but adults as well that are vulnerable to the effects of bipolar medication. Many parents claim that such medications tend to deprive their kids of their unique individuality, often causing them to become increasingly despondent and in some cases, almost disconnected in a sense. With these effects having been reported on so many occasions, one cannot help but to wander if these kids would be better off without medication.

Therapy Treatment

One alternative treatment for bipolar disorder children, known as play therapy, has enjoyed much success in helping kids with this condition to enjoy happy childhoods. During this therapy, bipolar kids are put in various hypothetical situations and they are then encouraged to respond in an acceptable manner and to find solutions which are emotionally well balanced. One must however also realize that some bipolar children symptoms, such as mood swings, can be so severe that play therapy may well prove to be ineffective. In cases where the symptoms are this severe, the child may in fact have little or no control over their actions or even their emotions.

A relatively new line of therapy which involves teaching patients how to recognize the symptoms of bipolar disorder, as well as factors that could trigger mood swings, is known as cognitive behavioral therapy. Furthermore, patients are also taught how to avoid bouts of depression and how best to manage such episodes when they do occur. Adults in particular can benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy, with or without medication.

Cognitive Therapy

One drawback of cognitive behavioral therapy is that it most often requires a relatively high degree of problem solving and lines of thinking which a child doesn't have, hence the reason why this form of therapy is not frequently used when treating bipolar kids. There is however those who feel that if the techniques were altered accordingly, this therapy could prove to be beneficial for treating bipolar in children but of course, there are others who argue that this is easier said than done.

Essentially, it's fundamental that absolutely everyone who is in some way involved with a bipolar kid, gets together in order to discuss the various treatment options. This includes not only the parents, but also psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, and even teachers. If parents or even a teacher becomes concerned with regards to the effect any treatment may be having on a child, it should be discussed as soon as possible and the necessary action taken, even it that means a change of doctor.

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