Symptoms of Bipolar Disease
There may be occasions when we feel happy for no apparent reason and want to sing and dance for joy. There are also times when all of us feel melancholic or sad. Mood swings are present in a lot of people but they do not happen everyday and not without reason. But in cases where people are ecstatic one moment then all of sudden fall into the depths of depression, then there is the possibility that they may be suffering from bipolar disease with bipolar symptoms present. There are false myths about bipolar disease and bipolar symptoms harbored by most people and that is why the truth about bipolar disorder must be known.
The Truth Behind Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is also popularly known as manic depression. As the name indicates, the symptoms of this disorder are characterized with periods of euphoria or mania alternating with periods of depression. These periods are not just fleeting phases. They last for hours, days and months. Moreover these radical mood changes also hamper the ability of the individual to lead a normal day to day life.
Patients in the mania phase may have an increased amount of energy and feel the urge to do things out of character like sing and dance, quit his job or shop like a madman. Euphoric feelings for no apparent reason are the characteristics associated with the mania phase.
The depression phase on the other hand can be characterized by symptoms of low or no energy. A person suffering from this phase may be completely depressed about everything, wallow in self pity and be very lethargic for no reason.
The rate of affliction of bipolar disorder has increased with almost 3% of the adult population in the US suffering from this disease. The disease has been linked to family history and genetics but researchers are still trying to find out the true causes of bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder symptoms are known to eventuate in the late teenage and early adult years and most people initially look at bipolar symptoms in teens as typical adolescent behavior. When this happens, people tend to take no notice of them making the symptoms worse. From this we can clearly see that an early prognosis of the disease is needed to allow for any possibility of a normal life for the patient.
In the early days, people afflicted with the bipolar symptoms and bipolar disease, were often called “mad”. Many were thought to be possessed by evil spirits as well. However, with the advent of new technology, many of these myths have been broken.
Listed below are a couple of myths about the disease that are still around today:
A good life is no longer possible for a person with bipolar disorder ” This myth is false as it can be seen that people all around the world who suffer from this disease have children and a great family and they lead perfectly normal lives. All that is needed for this to be possible is the ability to cope with and manage the symptoms when they occur and also a good support system.
There is always an alternation between mania and depression for patients with bipolar disorder ” Both these phases occur with bipolar disorder but there tends to be more of an occurrence of depression rather than mania. Mania is so mild most of the time that its hardly noticeable. There are also several instances where patients may not experience any symptoms for some time.
Bipolar symptoms and bipolar disease can be treated with medicines and therapy. However, along with these conventional cures, the love and unconditional support of friends and relatives can work wonders!