A mixed episode of bipolar disorder features symptoms of both mania or hypomania and depression. Common signs of a mixed episode include depression combined with agitation, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, distractibility, and racing thoughts. This combination of high energy and low mood makes for a particularly high risk of suicide. Mood swings can occur very quickly, like a rollercoaster randomly moving from high to low and back again over a period of days or even hours.
Rapid cycling can leave you feeling dangerously out of control and most commonly occurs if your bipolar disorder symptoms are not being adequately treated. Bipolar I Disorder mania or a mixed episode — This is the classic manic-depressive form of the illness, characterized by at least one manic episode or mixed episode.
Usually—but not always—Bipolar I Disorder also involves at least one episode of depression. Instead, the illness involves episodes of hypomania and severe depression. Cyclothymia hypomania and mild depression — Cyclothymia is a milder form of bipolar disorder that consists of cyclical mood swings. However, the symptoms are less severe than full-blown mania or depression.
Living with untreated bipolar disorder can lead to problems in everything from your career to your relationships to your health. But bipolar disorder is highly treatable, so diagnosing the problem and starting treatment as early as possible can help prevent these complications.
Mania and hypomania often turn destructive, hurting you and the people around you. Bipolar disorder requires long-term treatment. Most people with bipolar disorder need medication to prevent new episodes and stay symptom-free.
There is more to treatment than medication. Medication alone is usually not enough to fully control the symptoms of bipolar disorder. The most effective treatment strategy for bipolar disorder involves a combination of medication, therapy, lifestyle changes , and social support. But in order to successfully manage bipolar disorder, you have to make smart choices. Your lifestyle and daily habits can have a significant impact on your moods and may even lessen your need for medication..
Get educated. Learn as much as you can about bipolar disorder. Get moving. Exercise has a beneficial impact on mood and may reduce the number of bipolar episodes you experience. Aerobic exercise that activates arm and leg movement such as running, walking, swimming, dancing, climbing or drumming may be especially beneficial to your brain and nervous system.
Keep stress in check. Avoid high-stress situations, maintain a healthy work-life balance, and try relaxation techniques such as meditation, yoga, or deep breathing. Seek support. Try joining a support group or talking to a trusted friend. In fact, most friends will be flattered that you trust them enough to confide in them, and it will only strengthen your relationship.
Stay closely connected to friends and family. Make healthy choices. Healthy sleeping and eating habits can help stabilize your moods. Keeping a regular sleep schedule is particularly important. Monitor your moods. Keep track of your symptoms and watch for signs that your moods are swinging out of control so you can stop the problem before it starts. The depressive phase of bipolar disorder is often very severe, and suicide is a major risk factor.
In fact, people suffering from bipolar disorder are more likely to attempt suicide than those suffering from regular depression. Furthermore, their suicide attempts tend to be more lethal. The risk of suicide is even higher in people with bipolar disorder who have frequent depressive episodes, mixed episodes, a history of alcohol or drug abuse, a family history of suicide, or an early onset of the disease.
If you or someone you care about is suicidal, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in the U. You can also read Suicide Prevention. Bipolar disorder has no single cause. It appears that certain people are genetically predisposed to bipolar disorder, yet not everyone with an inherited vulnerability develops the illness, indicating that genes are not the only cause.
Some brain imaging studies show physical changes in the brains of people with bipolar disorder. Other research points to neurotransmitter imbalances, abnormal thyroid function, circadian rhythm disturbances, and high levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
Nearly 6 million Americans have bipolar disorder, and most have probably wondered why. After more than a decade of studying over 1, of them in-depth, a University of Michigan team has an answer — or rather, seven answers. In fact, the team says, no one genetic change, chemical imbalance or life event lies at the heart of every case of the mental health condition once known as manic depression. But all of their experiences include features that fall into seven classes of phenotypes, or characteristics that can be observed, the team reports in a new paper in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
Prechter Bipolar Research Program , collected and analyzed tens of thousands of data points over years about the genetics, emotions, life experiences, medical histories, motivations, diets, temperaments and sleep and thought patterns of research volunteers. Three-quarters were active research participants in the Longitudinal Study of Bipolar Disorder. Using those findings, the team developed a framework that could be useful to researchers studying the condition, clinical teams treating it and patients experiencing it.
The team hopes it will give them all a common structure to use during studies, treatment decisions and more. All of these elements combine to affect the disease as patients experience it. The Prechter program is named for a Detroit automotive pioneer who fought bipolar disorder even as he built a successful business. Long-term funding from this program has made it possible to build a massive library of data from the Prechter cohort of patients, which is two-thirds female and 79 percent white with an average age at enrollment in the study of 38 years.
On average, participants had their first depressive or manic episode at age Many had other mental health conditions. The seven phenoclasses, as the U-M team has dubbed them, include standard measures doctors already use to diagnose and track the progress of bipolar disorder.
Changes in cognition, which includes thinking, reasoning and emotion processing. These mood swing cycles can change slowly or rapidly, with rapid cycling between mania and depression being much more common in women, children, and adolescents. Some people with bipolar disorder turn to alcohol and drugs because they feel temporarily better when they're high. But using alcohol and drugs can have disastrous results for people with bipolar disorder.
Substance abuse can actually make the symptoms worse, as well as making the condition hard for doctors to diagnose. Doctors and scientists don't know the exact cause of bipolar disorder, but they think that biochemical, genetic, and environmental factors may all be involved.
It's believed this condition is caused by imbalances in certain brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. If the neurotransmitters aren't in balance, the brain's mood-regulating system won't work the way it should. Genes also play a role. If a close relative has bipolar disorder, a person's risk of developing the condition is higher.
This doesn't mean, though, that if you have a relative with bipolar disorder you will automatically develop it! Even in studies involving identical twins raised in the same home, one twin sometimes had bipolar disorder whereas the other did not.
Researchers are now working on identifying the gene or genes involved in bipolar disorder. Environmental factors may play a role in bipolar disorder. For some teens, stresses such as a death in the family, their parents' divorce, or other traumatic events could trigger a first episode of mania or depression. Sometimes, going through the changes of puberty can set off an episode. In girls, symptoms can be tied to their monthly menstrual cycle.
Most people with bipolar disorder can be helped — but a psychiatrist or psychologist must first diagnose the disorder. Sadly, many people with the condition are never diagnosed or are not diagnosed properly. Without proper diagnosis and treatment, the disorder can become worse.
Some teens with undiagnosed bipolar disorder can end up in a psychiatric hospital or residential treatment center, in the juvenile justice system, abusing drugs, or committing suicide.
Because children and teens with bipolar disorder do not usually show the same patterns of behavior as adults who have the condition, a mental health professional will observe a teen's behavior carefully before making a diagnosis.
This includes getting a complete history of the person's past and present experiences. Family members and friends can also provide helpful insights into the person's behavior. The doctor may also want a teen to have a medical exam to rule out other conditions. Diagnosing bipolar disorder can be difficult. As yet, there aren't any laboratory tests like a brain scan or blood test that will diagnose it.
In teens, bipolar disorder can sometimes be mistaken for illnesses like schizophrenia and posttraumatic stress disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ADHD , and other depressive disorders.
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