Those who suffer from it will often experience volatile mood-swings, from the manic to the depressive, within durations that can last from a few days to several months. These effects can be extremely distressing, as symptoms are often triggered without warning – making it difficult to make predictions relating to occurrences of episodes and what strategies can be adopted to minimise their impact.
During the manic phase, sensations and behaviours can include: a tremendous sense of confidence and energy, speaking quickly with explicit opinions, a sense of invincibility, delusions of importance and fame, and a lack of sleep as the result of feeling highly-charged. During the depressive phase symptoms can dramatically change, and often include: feelings of despair, a complete loss of interest in activities, weight-changes, feeling constantly tired, experiencing unexplained aches and pains, the inability to concentrate and thoughts of self-harm and suicide.
Whilst the actual causes of bi-polar disorder remain uncertain, it is considered that triggers can include the impact of chronic stress and anxiety, chemical-changes within the brain’s composition and genetic factors. It can be treated with a variety of therapies and medications and its severity will determine whether the sufferer is treated as an out-patient or requires hospitalisation. A drug regularly used to reduce the effects is lithium carbonate – which can regulate chemical balance, in order to stop mood-swings. However, as the drug can have a range of side-effects it is important to closely monitor its use.
Psychotherapy is also a regularly used treatment for people who suffer from bi-polar disorder, and therapists can help patients learn how to deal with the condition’s symptoms. Finally, if other treatments have proven to be unsuccessful, electroconvulsive therapy can be used to control and regulate the symptoms of manic depression – but is only used in severe cases when other options have been eliminated.