If you, or someone you know is thinking about suicide or hurting yourself/themselves
Please Call 911 for Emergencies
(800) 273-8255- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and answered locally.
Bipolar Disorder
What is bipolar disorder?
Bipolar disorder is a condition that features extreme shifts in mood and fluctuations in energy and activity levels that can make day-to-day living difficult.
Previously known as manic depression, it is a serious mental illness that, if left untreated, can destroy relationships, undermine career prospects, and seriously affect academic performance. In some cases, it can lead to suicide.
Diagnosis most commonly occurs between the ages of 15 and 25 years, but it can happen at any age. It affects males and females equally.
What are the symptoms?
There are three possible bipolar states:
1. Mania
- Feelings of euphoria and elation or irritability and anger
- Impulsive, high-risk behavior, including grand shopping sprees, drug and alcohol abuse, and sexual promiscuity
- Aggressive behavior
- Increased energy and rapid speech
- Fleeting, often grandiose ideas
- Decreased sleep (typically the individual doesn’t feel tired after as few as three hours of sleep)
- Decreased appetite
- Difficulty concentrating; disorganized thoughts
- Inflated self-esteem
- Delusions and hallucinations (in severe cases)
2. Depression
- Feelings of hopelessness and sadness
- Inability to sleep or sleeping too much
- Loss of interest in formerly enjoyable activities; loss of energy (sometimes to the point of inability to get out of bed)
- Changes in appetite and weight
- Feelings of worthlessness and inappropriate guilt
- Inability to concentrate or make a decision
- Thoughts of death and suicide
- Withdrawing from loved ones and isolating oneself
- Talking or writing about death or suicide
- Putting personal affairs in order
- Previous attempts
3. Mixed Episode
- A mixture of mania and depression
How do I get diagnosed?
First, talk to your athletic trainer, doctor, or health care professional about your symptoms.
Psychologist, psychiatrist or other trained mental health professional can diagnose the disorder by conducting a face-to-face clinical interview. Your clinical interview will include detailed questions about your and your family’s medical and mental health history and your symptoms.
How do I get treated?
Bipolar disorder can be effectively managed with a combination of medication and psychotherapy to help in reducing both the number of episodes and their intensity
Treatment helps many people—even those with the most severe forms of bipolar disorder—gain better control of their mood swings and other bipolar symptoms. An effective treatment plan usually includes a combination of medication and psychotherapy (also called “talk therapy”).
Bipolar disorder is a lifelong illness. Episodes of mania and depression typically come back over time. Between episodes, many people with bipolar disorder are free of mood changes, but some people may have lingering symptoms. Long-term, continuous treatment helps to control these symptoms.
Medications
Different types of medications can help control symptoms of bipolar disorder. An individual may need to try several different medications before finding ones that work best.
Medications generally used to treat bipolar disorder include:
- Mood stabilizers
- Atypical antipsychotics
- Antidepressants
file:///C:/Users/mzg5502/Downloads/Bipolar%20Disorder%20Factsheet.pdf
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/bipolar-disorder/index.shtml
Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXtJ4-HL_IE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ki9dgG3P5M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=nZF4bl6C-y0
