Bipolar disorder

             What is it and what happens to people that have it?
             Bipolar disorder is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person's mood, energy, and ability to function. This disorder is also referred to as manic-depressive illness. Everyone has ups and downs in their happiness, mood, sadness, and anger. Emotions are an essential part of everyday life. Bipolar disorder causes people to have mood swings out of proportion and unrelated to things going on in their lives. These mood swings can affect thoughts, feelings, physical health, behavior, and functioning. Bipolar disorder can also result in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, and even suicide.
             More than 2 million American adults in any given year have bipolar disorder. Bipolar typically develops late in adolescence, although some people may experience their first symptoms during childhood. Bipolar disorder is equally common in males and females. Bipolar disorder occurs at much higher rates in first-degree biological relatives of people with bipolar disorder than in the general population. (National Institute Of Mental Health, 2004).
             Bipolar disorder causes patients to experience severe mood swings from normal to overly high or low and depressive. When a patient has a mood swing that causes their mood to be high it is said they are in a manic episode. Symptoms that someone in a manic episode have include: increased energy, activity, restlessness, excessively high or euphoric mood, extreme irritability, talking very fast and skipping from topic to topic, can not concentrate well, need little sleep, experiences unrealistic beliefs in their ability and strength, poor judgment, spending sprees, abuse of drugs and alcohol, aggressive behavior, and denial that anything is wrong. Here is a description of a manic episode from a patient. (Focusas, 2002)
             "The fast ideas become too fast and there are far too many... overwhelming confusio...

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