Manic Or Bipolar Depression

Bipolar disorder is another name for manic depressive disorder – a mental illness that typically alternates between episodes of mania and depression. The patient experiences elation and euphoric highs followed by deep melancholy and sadness. All too often this emotional disorder is overlooked not only by the patient, family and friends, but also by some mental health professionals still trying to fully understand what is manic depression.

Manic depressive disorder affects millions of adult Americans, with an alarmingly high suicide rate when depression hits. It is a type of affective disorder that is also called mood disorder and is fast becoming a serious medical condition and important health concern.

Often beginning in late adolescence as depression, manic depressive disorder develops as a manic episode in men and a depressive episode in women. 20 to 30 percent of adult bipolar disorder patients report having their first episode before the age of 20. When symptoms appear before the age of 12, they are often misunderstood and confused with attention-deficit disorder – a syndrome that is usually characterized by serious and persistent difficulties in attentiveness and hyperactivity. It has been found that the trend is similar across nationalities, races, age and ethnic and social groups.

Having manic depression makes it a challenge in leading a normal life with a regular schedule. This is because when these episodes occur, it very often leads to family conflict or financial problems with the patient behaving erratically and irresponsibly without reason. During the manic phase, the patient often becomes impulsive and aggressive, sometimes leading to high-risk behavior such as repeated intoxication.

This change in mood or “mood swing” can last for hours, days, weeks or even months. Every time manic depressive disorder symptoms are experienced at one pole for at least one week, it is called an episode. Experiencing 4 or more episodes or mania and depression in a year is called rapid-cycling bipolar disorder.