Tag: Manic Depression

Depression Defined

Depression can be categorized by many different names. However, no matter what type of depression a person has, the symptoms and complications are all the same. You can have major depressive disorder, manic depression, postpartum depression, seasonal effective disorder, or a variety of others. Each type of depression has its own underlying causes, but each exhibits very similar symptoms.

Depression is a very serious medical condition. It can have a very negative impact on how a person feels. They may think negatively and they may withdraw from everyone in their life. People that have clinical depression do not have the ability to function and live their lives as they used to. They no longer enjoy activities that they have always found enjoyable. They may have very long periods of sadness or hopelessness.

Clinical depression is far different than have feelings of sadness or depression for a couple days and then finding your feeling better. Depression can have serious effects on body, mind, thoughts, and the way people behave. Eating patterns, feelings and thoughts, ability to study or work, and interactions with other people can all be affected by depression. The majority of people that are suffering from clinical depression say that they no longer feel like themselves.

Suffering from clinical depression is not a sign of personal weakness or a medical condition that can just be wished away. If a person is truly clinically depressed, they do not have the ability to get themselves together and get over the feelings and condition. Clinical depression can quite often interfere with the ability of a person to seek or want to get help. Clinical depression is a very serious medical condition that lasts for a period of weeks, months, and often even years. It can cause suffers to think about or try to commit suicide.

Depression does not discriminate in regards to its sufferers. People that have depression can be any age, any gender, ethnicity, culture, or religious affiliation. Every year more than 17 million Americans, both men and women, are affected by depression. Clinical depression is a very common medical disorder. However, it is quite often not recognized or goes untreated or undiagnosed.

There are many different types and levels of depression. Depression is diagnosed and treated by psychiatrists and mental health counselors who are trained for this. People that have depression can feel better and get back to their normal lives within a few months if they receive the right treatments. The majority of sufferers start feeling better within a matter of weeks.

Most often, treatment for depression can be done on an outpatient basis. Treatment can include a combination of medications and therapy or counseling. In some severe cases, sufferers may require inpatient treatment. They may need to spend some time in the hospital where they can be closely monitored and watched. One of the most common reasons for inpatient treatment or hospitalization in relation to depression is due to thoughts or attempts of suicide. Close monitoring and medication and intensive therapy are often needed in these situations. Most inpatients are feeling better and able to function outside of the hospital within a few weeks time.

Acquainting Yourself with Bipolar Disorder

This interesting article addresses some of the key issues regarding bipolar. A careful reading of this material could make a big difference in how you think about bipolar.

A person with bipolar disorder experiences the best and worst of both worlds. Like two – face from Batman. It can be a psychological disorder that progress without warning.

Imagine being confronted by a person with the happiest personality and then suddenly, without any reason, he diminishes to a lower aura and starts to cry.

The extremes that are associated with someone who is bipolar are ranging from an attitude of recklessness to listlessness. This kind of instability of moods can grow into a poker-faced problem that greatly affects the person who has the disorder and the people around him as well.

Other terms for this lucidity boggling disease are manic – depressive or manic – depression illness. Both extremes are experienced and exhibited by the person suffering from it.

Mood swings that are caused by this disorder can last for a couple of weeks or even months if not sold care of. This big of behavior can cause monster disturbance to the lives of friends, family and whoever is close to the person.

According to researches, there is a major occurrence of this uncontrolled behavior across variety of symptoms and can affect almost everyone in the group.

Sadly, this disease is not diagnosed accordingly which is not very helpful and most often, people misconstrued this kind of behavior as somewhat ordinary. Untreated, this attitude complication worsens and results to high tendencies of suicidal rates.

Although, if diagnosed and treated at an early stage, people who suffers from this disease can enjoy a life worth living.

What is the create of bipolar disorder?

Nowadays, the exact cause of the mood disorder is unknown. Although there are beliefs that it can be connected within the family down from their bloodline.

Usually, people who are diagnosed with the sickness tends to have a relative who further suffers from it as well or somewhat complementary conditions. Voguish science believes that other probable causes that can enter on someone to experience the disorder are:

Environmental effects. In some way, the persons environment can take the blame for suffering the psychological disease. Factors may include severe problems with peers, family, and the conforming; other elaborates the stressful situations that are surrounding the person. A loss of a loved one can also be unequaled of the environmental causes.

Chemical effects. Studies have shown the indications of chemical within the body made the power function differently. Significant changes may still be uncertain but in an final process, may help in pinpointing the causes. Hormonal imbalances and neurotransmitters are also being accepted as one of the chemical causes.

Based on statistical findings, there are about three million Americans who suffer from this psychological disorder. Individuals who experience this illness will experience humour swings that are extreme joined with multiple behaviors and symptoms. Mood swings are oftentimes categorized as depressive episodes, manic episodes and mixed episodes.

Depressive episode symptoms are:

Extreme feeling of sadness or emptiness Lack of cardinal energy Lack of interest in important things Decreased concentration Imaginary thoughts about suicide or dying

Manic episode symptoms are:

Elevation of extreme mood swings Extreme anxiousness and irritability Talking in a fastmanner Unusual energy increase with a reduced need to sleep

Mixed episode symptoms are basically the combination of the depressive and manic episode symptoms.

Bipolar disorder can be evident in teenagers although, licensed are studies showing cases prevalent in children and adults.
The day will come when you can use something you read about here to have a beneficial impact. Then you’ll be glad you took the time to learn more about bipolar.

Psychiatric Evidence of Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder, or manic depression, is a serious mental illness that has eluded doctors for decades. For many years, bipolar disorder patients were diagnosed as psychotic or Schitsophrinia. However, about twenty years ago, manic depression became a more common diagnosis. Psychiatric specialists still, however, did not really understand the illness.

Over time, more psychiatric evidence has come to light that proves that bipolar disorder, as it is now called, is actually caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. Other factors, both medical and situational, can be involved as well. In the last few years, psychiatric specialists and researchers have determined that bipolar disorder actually has varying degrees of severity, as well as types of symptoms.

Studies of bipolar patients conducted by psychiatric professionals and researchers has long suggested that bipolar disorder runs in families, or, in other words, is hereditary. Through careful study and research of the functions of the brain, it has now been determined how this illness is indeed hereditary and biological in nature.

According to research posted in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2000, patients with bipolar disorder actually have thirty percent more brain cells of a certain class that have to do with sending signals within the brain. These additional brain cells cause patients’ brains to actually behave differently, making them predisposed to have periods of mania or depression.

According to researchers, this type of brain cell regulates moods, how someone responds to stress, and cognitive functions. When the extra brain cells are present, a congestion of cells regulated one type of mood or cognitive function is overloaded, and therefore causes a bout of mania or depression. It is not yet known by psychiatric researchers, however, why patients with bipolar disorder have these additional brain cells. To discover this, more genetic research will be required.

In addition to brain cells and brain chemistry, it has also been speculated by psychiatric researchers that various genes in the genetic makeup of bipolar patients can also contribute to the cause of and hereditary nature of bipolar disorder. Studies have been ongoing experimenting with removal of the gene in mice. The evidence suggests that circadian genes, which regulate mood, hormones, blood pressure, and heart activity may be linked to bipolar disorder. Specifically, the absence or abnormality of the gene actually seems to bring about mania episodes.

All in all, more research needs to be done. Medical and psychiatric researchers and doctors have a lot more to learn about the brain and how it functions. While current treatments seem to work for bipolar disorder, they also have severe side effects. Often, medications prescribed for bipolar disorder have to be monitored, dosages modified, or medications switched entirely for patients to maintain balance. The more we learn about the brain and it’s functions, the more we can learn about the physical, biological causes of bipolar disorder. The more we learn about the causes of bipolar disorder, the more likely it will become that effective treatments can be found that offer little side effects and more permanent treatment options for bipolar patients.

Prozac for Bipolar Disorder, Bulimia, and Anxiety

Prozac is a medication often prescribed for bipolar disorder, bulimia, and anxiety disorders. The medication is highly effective because it acts as a serotonin inhibitor, which means that it helps balance serotonin levels in the brain. Serotonin levels are responsible for mood stability, depressive states, and control of anxiety, fears, or phobias.

Bipolar disorder, or manic depression, is a mental illness that is caused by a combination of biological, neurological, emotional, and situational factors. The true causes of bipolar disorder are not yet fully understood. However, it is understood that imbalances in the neurotransmitters of the brain, such as serotonin, are partially responsible for the predisposition of bipolar disorder in some patients.

Bulimia is an eating disorder in which the patient eats excessively then purges themselves of the food they have eaten through either vomiting or induced bowel movements. Bulimia is caused by a combination of psychological and emotional factors, and in some cases environmental factors. The emotional factors relating to bulimia are very similar if not identical to factors involved with depression and low self worth issues, which are connected to serotonin levels in the brain.

Anxiety disorders are thought to be caused by erratic fluctuations in brain chemistry. Anxiety is defined as the intense somewhat debilitating feeling that something horrible is going to happen. Everyone feels anxiety at some point, but typically the normal person has a logical reason to feel anxious. With anxiety disorders, the reason for the anxiety may not be known, or it may not be logical if it is known.

Prozac is an effective treatment for bipolar disorder, bulimia, and anxiety because it controls and balances the serotonin levels in the brain. In bipolar patients, it is often prescribed in conjunction with other medications. Prozac is an effective treatment for depression, but may cause manic episodes to worsen. For this reason, Prozac is generally prescribed along with an anti-psychotic drug that helps tone down manic episodes. Therapy sessions or counseling is also generally a part of treatment.

In bulimia patients, Prozac is often the only prescription given. However, it is combined with treatment of symptoms via counseling and therapy. The idea behind this counseling is to identify why the patient has developed a sense of self-worth, and to allow the patient to learn that what they perceive is not necessarily reality. This is very helpful in bulimia patients who binge and purge as a result of how they perceive their bodies.

Anxiety patients are often prescribed Prozac with great success. Counseling may also be a part of treatment. In therapy sessions, patients may learn techniques to control their anxiety through rationalization of situations that may not at first appear rational. For example, if a patient feels anxiety over a cigarette burning in an ashtray, they can learn techniques to allow their mind to rationalize the situation and understand that there is no real danger of fire, and therefore no reason for the anxiety. These techniques are very successful in conjunction with Prozac for treating anxiety.

Overall, Prozac is an effective treatment for many mood disorders. Along with Lithium, it is often considered a miracle drug, helping patients gain stability and normal lives while living with an unstable, unrealistic view of themselves or their surroundings.