Everyone has their ups and downs, living with Bi-Polar disorder though means that those ups and downs are more severe. The symptoms can hurt your job, effect school performance, damage your relationships and disrupt your daily life.
Bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression) causes major shifts in mood, thinking, energy and behaviour. It’s is more than just a passing good or bad mood, cycles of bipolar disorder can last days, weeks or months. Mood changes are so intense they interfere with your ability to function.
The causes of bipolar disorder aren’t totally understood, but it often seems to be hereditary. The first manic or depressive episode typically happens during the teen or early adult years. Symptoms can be subtle and confusing, many people are over looked or even misdiagnosed. Bipolar disorder can look different in different people. Symptoms vary widely in their pattern, severity and frequency. Some people can be more prone to either mania or depression, while others alternate equally between the two types of episodes. Some experience mood disruptions frequently while others only experience a few in their lifetimes.
There are 4 types of mood episodes in bipolar disorder: mania, hypomania, depression and mixed episodes. Each type of bipolar disorder mood episode has a unique set of symptoms.