Bipolar Disorder Treatment, Causes, Types, Symptoms, Medication And Facts

One method of understanding and treating bipolar disorder better is classifying it into separately comprehensible and treatable types. The three types of bipolar disorder differ mainly in the degree to which they exhibit episodes of depression and mania. There are also nuances of behavior that can be described within these types.

Bipolar I Disorder–Bipolar I disorder is a mental illness characterized by the severity of mood swings from mania to depression and back again. To be diagnosed with bipolar I disorder a person must have experienced a minimum of one manic episode. Their behavior in all likelihood during their one or more episodes served to completely disrupt their life.
Experiencing profound depression is also a typical part of life for people with bipolar I disorder. People with bipolar I disorder frequently cycle between the two extreme moods of depression and mania. Hence the older term “manic-depression”. It should noted, as well, that these peoples’ extreme mood swings do not preclude their experiencing prolonged periods of perfectly normal psychological states between their mood swings.
Bipolar II Disorder–Bipolar II disorder is a mental illness that resembles the more severe form of bipolar disorder known as bipolar I disorder. Their moods cycle between mania and depression over the course of time. What distinguishes bipolar II from bipolar I disorder is that the manic or up moods cannot be described as full-on or complete mania. Their highs are labeled with the term hypomania. To be diagnosed with bipolar II disorder a person must have experienced a minimum of one hypomanic episode. People with this disorder are also prone to suffering episodes of depression. Periods hypomania nor depression do not make up the entire live of these persons. They can live lives that are free of the behaviors and symptoms of bipolar II disorder for extended periods of time.

Where Does Something Called Cyclothymia Fit in?
The mental illness labeled cyclothymia can be thought of as relatively mild mood disorder. Its mood swings don’t attain the extreme peaks and valleys of major depression or mania. Researchers estimate that up to 1% of people in the U.S. have cyclothymia. Because it is a milder form of mental illness the onset of cyclothymia can be difficult to identify. Symptoms usually begin occurring in adolescence. The pattern mood swings is irregular and unpredictable. Mood variations are part of a normal psychological makeup and it can prove hard to distinguish cyclothymia. People with cyclothymia can cycle continuously from hypomanic to depressed, without a normal period in between. They are almost as likely to exhibit extended periods of depression or hypomania. Most experts have concluded that cyclothymic disorder is an extremely mild form of bipolar disorder.

All the different types of bipolar disorders exhibit variations within their types. Duration and frequency are the distinguishing characteristics. Both mania and depression can be seen to exist in the same person at the same time. Rapidly cycling bipolar disorders are marked by four or more episodes occurring within a year. In fact many more can occur, much more frequently. Persons with these symptoms are at greater risk for suicide.

No one, including psychiatrists and researchers, understands the exact cause of bipolar disorder.
Experts point to the fact that bipolar disorder runs in families as one clue to bipolar disorder’s origins. A genetic component is strongly suspected. Some progress into the disorder’s cause or causes has been made in the last decade. Life’s stresses and inappropriate attempts to cope with those stresses by using drugs and alcohol can make the disorder more difficult to manage or treat.

Changes in the levels of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters can help in describing what is occurring in the brain when a patient is bipolar. Exactly what is happening is not completely understood. Levels of noradrenaline and serotonin are associated with depression and bipolar disorder. It has also been shown that levels of a third neurotransmitter called serotonin have an affect on mood and mood disorders.

Is There a Genetic Link?
Scientists have pretty much concluded that bipolar disorder runs in families. Studies that used identical twins indicated that if one identical twin had bipolar disorder, the other twin had a greater chance of developing the condition. It wasn’t a given, however. This indicates that genetics have a role to play, but not the only one since the genes of identical twins are, in fact, identical. Other siblings in the same family also showed a somewhat weaker tendency to develop bipolar disorder. The chance of an identical twin (of the bipolar twin) to also develop bipolar disorder is about 40% to 70% according to the research.

Other studies uncovered the fact that children with one biological parent with bipolar I or bipolar II disorder had an increased likelihood for getting bipolar disorder. Oddly enough, the bipolar parents in the study who had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) were more likely to have children with bipolar disorder — but not AD/HD.

Scientific findings also show that simple depression is more common in families where other individuals have bipolar disorder. Conversely children with one or more bipolar parents seem to possess a propensity to develop other psychiatric disorder such as ADHD, major depression, or substance abuse. Additionally if a child is raised in a home where parents exhibit the symptoms of bipolar disorder in a flamboyant manner it appears that they are more likely to develop bipolar disorder themselves, regardless of genetic factors.

Is Lack of Sleep a Cause?
Sleep loss may cause a bipolar episode such as mania (elation) in some patients. Yet sleep disturbance is more accurately described as a precipitator of bipolar disorder symptoms in persons who are already predisposed to developing the disorder as opposed to being a root cause. Evidence indicates that if a sleep-deprived person who is bipolar enters a manic state, their need for sleep actually decreases even more.

Does the Age of One’s Parents Increase the Risk of Bipolar Disorder?
Research seems to indicate that it does. It suggests that children born who are to older fathers are at increased risk of developing the disorder. This may add another piece to the puzzle beside genetic and environmental factors that influence risks factors for bipolar disorder.

By definition bipolar disorder is a mental illness that is characterized by extreme mood swings that fluctuate between the high of mania and the low point known as depression. Conventional psychological wisdom (that is not an oxymoron) says that to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder a person must have experienced a minimum of at least one manic episode. If such an episode needs to be a thing of the past before diagnosis can be confirmed, at risk factor may prove to be elusive as well before the fact.

The exact cause of bipolar disorder is still unknown although bipolar disorder appears to run in families. A tantalizing association that runs along family lines seems to point to a genetic factor without specifically identifying genetic elements that are responsible for bipolar disorder even in part.

Changes in the levels of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters are also cited as likely causes and possible effects of bipolar disorder. Levels of noradrenaline and serotonin are associated with depression and bipolar disorder. It has also been shown that levels of a third neurotransmitter called serotonin have an affect on mood and mood disorders in general.

The full weight of research seems to suggest that disparate factors combine to produce a chemical imbalance in the brain that at least resembles the way that psychotropic chemicals act on the brain, but doesn’t really come close to mimicking their effects in any meaningful way.

Environmental factors have also been considered as precipitators of the disorder. These include stress, alcohol or drug abuse, and lack of sleep. A particularly difficult environmental factor revolves around family studies that indicate that parental behavior that exhibits symptoms of bipolar disorder can provoke occurrences of bipolar disorder in offspring. Nurture cannot be ruled out as a cause, but in most such cases nature is present as a genetic factor which clouds any definitive conclusions regarding behavioral modelling and bipolar disorders. Dramatic life events revolving around romance, bereavement and employment may also trigger bipolar episodes.

Researchers have also demonstrated a link between hormone levels and bipolar disorder. Hypothyroidism has been shown to produce depression and mood instability, with females particularly prone to experience mood swings at puberty.

Ultimately the 6 million individuals diagnosed as being bipolar in the United States are divided evenly between the sexes with the disorder tending to manifest itself differently along sexual lines. Mixed state episodes and rapid cycling of episodes between manic and depressive is seen more in women whose first episode tends to be a depressive one. By contrast the initial bipolar disorder episode in men tends to be manic.

In perhaps another chicken or egg enigma about 50 per cent of individuals who are diagnosed with bipolar disorder have a drug or alcohol abuse problem. Since these individuals are inclined to self-medicate with these substances after episodes of mania or depression it is difficult to determine whether their bipolar disorder led to their abusing drugs and alcohol or whether drugs and alcohol contributed to their bipolar disorder.