Bipolar Disorder And Its Effects On The Patient s Life

In the world of mental health disorders, one of the most common is Bipolar Disorder. According to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), Bipolar Disorder affects as much as 2.6% of the adult population. The effects of Bipolar Disorder can range from mild (having little impact on the patient’s day to day life) to severe (making the patient’s life debilitating and nonfunctioning). Bipolar Disorder also has a devastating effect on the patient’s friends and family. Bipolar Disorder is one of the most common mental health disorders, however, with proper treatment; the sufferer can go on to live a normal and useful life. Body Bipolar Disorder is defined as â€Å"a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity†¦show more content†¦The hypomanic episode is a less severe manifestation of a manic episode. The depressive episode is marked by a period of depression, where the patient feels hopeless and sad, while losing interest in the things that they normally enjoy. The depressive episode may resemble Clinical Depression, which is defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM) as: For clinical depression, you must have five or more of the following symptoms over a two-week period, most of the day, nearly every day. At least one of the symptoms must be either a depressed mood or a loss of interest or pleasure. Signs and symptoms may include: †¢ Depressed mood, such as feeling sad, empty or tearful (in children and teens, depressed mood can appear as constant irritability) †¢ Significantly reduced interest or feeling no pleasure in all or most activities †¢ Significant weight loss when not dieting, weight gain, or decrease or increase in appetite (in children, failure to gain weight is expected) †¢ Insomnia or increased desire to sleep †¢ Either restlessness or slowed behavior that can be observed by others †¢ Fatigue or loss of energy †¢ Feelings of worthlessness, or excessive or inappropriate guilt †¢ Trouble making decisions, or trouble thinking or concentrating †¢ Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide, or a suicide attempt (‘Diseases and Conditions; Bipolar Disorder’, 2015). The difference between Bipolar disorder and Clinical depression is the presence of manic