Bipolar

15 Pages 3796 Words

The history of bipolar disorder itself is over 2000 years old. "Bipolar Illness, or manic depressive disorder, is an ancient disease with descriptions appearing in the biblical Old Testament and in writings from ancient Greece"(El-Mallakh 775). In the last few years, doctors find the probable cause of bipolar disorder is an inherited lack of stability in nerve impulse transmission in the brain. This biochemical brain problem causes people with bipolar disorder to be more susceptible to physical and emotional stresses. Researchers have found several genes that could be linked to the disorder. This may explain why bipolar disorder seems to run in families.
Bipolar itself means "two poles" as it is characterized by mood swings. The manic episode begins with increased energy, creativity, and social ease that can easily go into uncontrollable anger, agitation, and feelings of being irritable. The other side of the pole, depression, is a lack of energy, feeling sad, worthlessness, and thoughts of suicide. These mood swings are totally unrelated to things going on in the person's life.
Bipolar disorder affects close to 1% of the population of the United States. "As many as one-fifth of the 3 million people in the United States who develop bipolar disorder eventually find the emotional ride intolerable and kill themselves"(Bower 232). "Suicide is, in fact, the second major cause of death worldwide in women between the ages of 15 and 44. Almost all of these suicides are connected to mental illness, and most mental illnesses are treatable"(Jamison 80).
People with bipolar disorder experience depressive episodes consisting of sadness, low energy, worthlessness, and suicidal thoughts alternating with manic episodes of euphoria, inflated self-esteem, and high energy levels. This disorder with its mood swings can permanently disable people, and without treatment, one out of five commit suicide. Many people with bipolar disorder are very intelligen...