Dépression bipolaire et la dépression clinique

Approximately 10% of Americans suffer from a form of depression during their lives. This number varies, but is pretty much the same all over the world. There are a few places in the world that depression seems to have missed, but not much. Depression affects how we behave in our sleep patterns to how to think and live their lives in general.

The difference between depression and bipolar depression is the severity and frequency. Only depression is often created life circumstances, while bipolar depression is chemically induced and flipside of mani. Depression and mania come in cycles, whatever the circumstances of a person's life.

While people suffering from clinical depression at the risk of the use of drugs or alcohol to relieve their symptoms, the risk is higher in people with bipolar depression. A person who knows the top of mania, try to recreate the feeling when they are depressed or 'stable '. Drugs often help create, high for a short period. This leads to the person in danger of adding drugs for bipolar disorder.

Treatment of the two types of depression vary also. Those who suffer from clinical depression antidepressants are prescribed only. Those who have bipolar depression often as a mood stabilizer can be given in first place, and an antidepressant as a second choice, if necessary. Both drugs adjustment of the chemicals in the brain to alleviate depression, but the mood stabilizer also helps the person to keep to go too far in the other direction and become manic.

The person who suffers from depression, it feels the same thing that creates the atmosphere. The important part to know the games of difference is mainly in the treatment options. A person suffering from bipolar depression is in danger of becoming manic, if are treated only to treat depression. In itself, this creates additional problems.

Bipolar II Disorder

Bipolar II is related to Bipolar I, but it differs in one major aspect. While Bipolar I has extreme manic and depressive states, Bipolar II has the deep depression, but never goes into full-blown mania. The highs of this type of bipolar disorder aren't quite as high, but they are high enough to make the individual notice the downswings more. This form of bipolar disorder can be just as trying on the individual as Bipolar I.

The highs of bipolar two are called a hypomanic manic episode. Hypomania is essentially a very revved up state of great productivity and quickness. When hypomanic, you talk fast, walk fast, think fast, pretty much do everything else fast. You become upbeat, enthusiastic, relentlessly optimistic and confident.

Major depressive episode is essentially just a fancy word for depression. When you have a major depressive episode, you're severely depressed. The symptoms are the same as they are for clinical depression. These symptoms are:

--Decreased interest in life.

--Feelings of sadness, tension, or irritability.

--Loss of energy.

--Change in appetite.

--Change in sleeping patterns.

--Feeling restless.

--Feeling slowed down.

--Decreased ability to make decisions.

--Lack of concentration.

--Feelings of worthlessness or guilt.

--Feelings of hopelessness.

--Thoughts of suicide or death.

The major depressive episode is the downside of Bipolar II in more ways than one. Not only is it the mood downswing, it's the cost of having such great productive ups. Although you can get a lot accomplished when in the up phase of Bipolar II and you can also feel wonderful, you pay a high price for these benefits. You pay with a major depressive episode. Coming down off of a glorious, ecstatic high into a place of hopelessness can be devastating.

Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder

Giving unconditional love for bipolar disorder patients is a tough job. If you do not understand what is happening to your loved one, then you will have difficulty relating to them.

Do not think of the illness as humiliation. If you will feel ashamed of your loved one because he is inflicted with such illness, then you are not helping him restore his good health, instead you are letting him do worse than expected.

Trust is essential to individuals with Bipolar disorder. They need you to trust them, not entrust them to other people or institutions such as the psychiatrists or an asylum. To build up trust, an open and honest communication is needed. Keep the communication line open. An open and honest communication is vital. Encourage your loved one to talk about what he thinks and feels. Let him suggest ways on how you are supposed to relate to him.

Do not suppress what you feel. However, there are positive ways to let your loved know how you feel. It is recommended that you avoid nagging, preaching or lecturing an individual with Bipolar disorder. Such negative actions will drive him to detach. If you are concerned about him, let him see how concerned you are in a gentle and encouraging manner.

Let him do things his way. Along with trust and communication, let the person experience what he can do for himself. Let him solve problems if he can find solutions. Let him live the way he is supposed to live. By that, he will feel that he is important and has a good reason why he lives.

Be there. Although you allow him to do his own way, it does not mean that you will not be there when he needs you to. Let him do things his way but make sure that you are around to give assistance when needed.

Most importantly, apart from assistance, you need to offer your love, understanding and support.

Creativity and Bipolar Disorder

Almost since the beginning of time, human beings have recognized the connection between intelligence or creativity and mental illness. Consider the way these individuals are portrayed in movies and books, for instance - the mad scientist working day and night in his laboratory, the hallucinating artist who doesn't even take time out from his creative work to eat.

Researchers have noted that an unusually high number of creative geniuses suffered from bipolar disorder. The reason Bipolar may bring about this increase in creative abilities is linked to the nature of the disease. One symptom of mania is an increase in creative, mental and physical energy. This might explain why these people were able create such works of genius, and why they were able to devote such concentrated periods of time to their work.

These creative geniuses included novelist Virginia Woolf, who brought us numerous first rate novels. Poet Sylvia Plath also suffered from the mood swings associated with Bipolar disorder. Musician and composer Ludwig van Beethoven is also believed to have suffered from Bipolar Disorder.

Perhaps best known for her role as the Southern belle Scarlet O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, actress Vivien Leigh was also plagued with Bipolar Disorder. Despite the disease and the shock therapy she was given as the treatment in those days.

Painter Vincent Van Gogh is also said to have suffered from Bipolar disorder. His most loved painting Starry Night was painted while Van Gogh was in a mental asylum for treatment of his erratic moods.

While every person with bipolar disorder may not create lasting works of art or literature, there is a higher percentage of artists and writers who are bipolar. So does the emotional instability of bipolar disorder bring about genius? We may one day know the answer for sure.

Rapid Cycling in Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder by itself is a condition in which its sufferers cycle between two poles of mental instability; mania and depression. Rapid cycling occurs when the sufferer shifts quickly between the two states with little to no warning.

Because it is one of the most serious forms of bipolar disorder the prognosis for anyone afflicted with rapid cycling bipolar disorder is not always good. The mental health and brain function of people with this condition is highly compromised because of the rate at which they go from mania to depression and back again. Treating this condition is also difficult.

In order to make a rapid cycling diagnosis the patient will have to meet the standards set forth in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders IV-TR which states that the patient must have at least four episodes of depression and mania/hypomania in a one year period.

Some people with rapid cycling bipolar disorder are asymptomatic, meaning they have periods when they exhibit neither of the cycles associated with this disorder. This does not diminish their need to effectively deal with their condition because when the mania and depression do hit it can be severe enough to be life threatening.

The more troubling side of this disorder is those who have little to no time between normalcy and a depressive or manic episode. Without proper mental health help people who suffer from this extreme can be a danger to themselves and others.

It is also possible that those who suffer from rapid cycling bipolar disorder will also partake in risky behavior. Drug and alcohol abuse is not out of the question particularly for those who like to self medicate. This can actually make the symptoms much worse and cause the cycling between the two extremes to happen at an even faster pace.