#7: Bipolar Disorder

Depression is considered to be unipolar disorder so it would only be fitting to talk about Bipolar disorder.  Bipolar disorder or manic depressive disorder is characterized by a patient who experiences multiple episodes of high mental awareness and energy followed by episodes of great disinterest and low self esteem in a repeating cycle.  These episodes of high self esteem are considered to be manic states while the episodes of low self esteem are considered to be depressive states hence the appropriate name.  In a typical case, the patient will experience a normal state in between these vastly different mental states though a more severe case of manic depressive disorder could be in rapid cycles where the individual is either very enthusiastic or very melancholic.

It is noted that in a study based in the US 1% of the population is diagnosed with this disorder.  Early signs of this disorder in history can be traced back to the time of ancient Greek where medical philosopher Aretaeus of Cappadocia mentioned in his texts originating sometime between 30 and 150AD that some of his patients experiences severe mood swings and he believed that these symptoms originated from black vile (a thought that is now proven false by modern studies of the disorder). Modern depiction of this disorder leads back to the 1850’s were French psychologists noted patients experiencing states of melancholia and mania though the term was not formed until the late nineteenth century by psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin.  Depression and Bipolar disorder are commonly mismatched based upon symptoms and how recurrent they are in patients though psychiatrist Karl Leonhard observed several distinctive characteristics of the two such as the length of episodes of depression in 1957 to help address the differences between the two diagnoses.  Though disorder has been quite perplexing to many psychiatrists, it can be observed that patients experiencing the disorder create states of euphoria or dysphasia depending upon their moods.

The following image demonstrates common symptoms of patients during their manic stages and depressive stages of the disorder to help better illustrate what people with the diagnosis are dealing with on a day to day basis.
 

Works Cited:

Bowden M.D., Charles L. "Strategies to Reduce Misdiagnosis of Bipolar Depression." American Psychiatric Association 52 (2001): 51-55. Print.

Marneros, Andreas, and Frederick K. Goodwin. "Bipolar Disorders Beyond Major Depression and Euphoric Mania." Cambridge University Press (2005). Print.

Spitzer, Robert L. DSM-IV-TR Casebook: a Learning Companion to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Pub., 2002. Print.

"Bipolar Disorder Symptoms & Bipolar Depression | CureAnxiety.com." Cure Anxiety -What is Anxiety,Bipolar Disorder Symptoms, Depression Medication,Bipolar Disease,Natural Sleep Aids. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Apr. 2011. <http://cureanxiety.com/bipolar-disorder-symptoms>.