Essay On Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder, once known as manic depression, is know named bipolar to distinguish the disorder from unipolar depression (major depressive disorder.) Karl Leonhard changed the name to better specify the disorders, as ‘manic depression’ was a term used to describe an array of disorders and mental illnesses.

People with bipolar experience extreme contrasting mood swings, hypomania or mania, where they are extremely happy at one time then at another time they are extremely depressed. It can be difficult for those who aren’t treated to live a normal life. Scientists are still unsure what the cause of bipolar is but there are links to traumatic life events causing the disorder, also, things like environment, brain chemicals, genetics, other medical illnesses and pregnancy have an input in the development of the disorder. There are three types of bipolar; Bipolar 1, which is the more serious branch of the disorder, where the sufferers have experienced at least one episode of mania and major depression. Bipolar 2 is described as less serious and those affected with the disorder experience hypomania and depression. Lastly,

Everyone is different but usually the person will have to take a mood stabilizer such as lithium or valproate. In the depressed stage, people with bipolar cannot take normal antidepressant because they can onset mania or hypomania so they have to take different kinds of antidepressants that won’t onset mania like, SSRI’s or Dual Action Antidepressants. When they are going through mania or hypomania, as well as the mood stabilizer they may have to take an atypical antipsychotic. Lithium has been used in the treatment of bipolar disorder for over 50 years and is still used now but it is only fairly recently that there has been innovation in the treatment of this disorder. It was a long time before anything new was discovered in the way of treatment like anticonvulsants and atypical