Bipolar Disorder Vs Bipolar Disorder

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The disorder that I picked from the DSM-V was bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is a disorder in the brain that affects people’s behavior, actions, and mood. There are many different symptoms of the disorder, but they are usually all severe, not like regular mood shifts or things normal people feel and get. Bipolar disorder is split up into four different types, the first being mania. In mania a person may feel an increase in energy or creativity, reckless actions, aggression, and anger are all also common in mania. Symptoms of mania include; “feeling unusually optimistic or extremely irritable, unrealistic, grandiose beliefs about one’s abilities or powers, sleeping very little but feeling extremely energetic, talking so rapidly that others can’t keep up, racing thoughts, highly distractible, unable to concentrate, impaired judgment and impulsiveness, acting recklessly without thinking about the consequences, delusions and hallucinations (in severe cases)” (Helpguide, 2008, para. 9). The next type of bipolar disorder one can have is bipolar depression, not to be confused with regular depression. The biggest difference between regular depression and bipolar depression is the usage of antidepressants, which if given to someone diagnosed with bipolar depression it may worsen the bipolar depression or even give the person mania or hypomania. Symptoms of bipolar disorder include, “feeling hopeless or sad, irritability, inability to experience pleasure, fatigue or loss of energy, physical and mental sluggishness, sleep problems, concentration problems, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, and thoughts of death or suicide” (Helpguide, 2008, para. 12). After reading a bit on both what DSM-IV-TR and DSM-V had to say about bipolar disorder... ... middle of paper ... ...iend, and once he got up from the ground Craig laughs and then runs away. All three of these situations show symptoms of bipolar disorder; irrational behavior, suicidal thoughts and actions, depression, and trouble remembering (National Institute of Mental Health, 2008, para. 8). The first example displays both the characteristics of going to a depressed state then jumping to maniac state. The second example shows the drastic anger and irrational behavior Craig displays. The third example displays Craig’s thoughts and actions of trying to kill himself and also his impulsive decision, due to the fact that Craig hasn’t tried talking to people or solving his abusive dad problem but just kept it to himself then tried killing himself. These moments during the show perfectly capture a character that is dealing with bipolar disorder, to be specific probably mixed episode.

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