Bipolar Mood Disorder

Bipolar mood disorder, as the name suggests, has two behavioral traits that are poles apart. This kind of disorder is recognized with ‘high peaks and low valleys’ in the context of mood swings. A person with this mood disorder faces episodes of extreme temperaments. At one point of time they come across intense feelings, optimism and brighter perceptions towards life while on the second instance, they can turn out to be extremely depressed and full of hopelessness. Under these effects, a person may go hippy and impulsively charge up huge amounts on his credit card, resign from the job, or even break up with friends. Unlike the normally passing good or bad mood, the phases of bipolar disorder last longer – for days, weeks or even months. However, we often fail to diagnose it during the initial stages as the symptoms may be relatively feeble or even confusing. So it is often overlooked till late, leading to unnecessary suffering. Read on to get an insight of the major symptoms of bipolar mood disorder.

Symptoms Of Bipolar Mood Disorder

Individuals suffering from this disorder face two different episodes of emotional play. They may experience a ‘manic’ phase or a ‘depressive’ phase.

Symptoms and Signs of ‘Mania’

During their ‘manic’ phase, subjects may feel overtly happy and unusually ‘high’ or optimistic about everything. This experience is often defined as feeling on top of the world and being unbeatable.
People tend to be extremely irritable and agitated during this period. They feel abnormally jittery and uneasy.
The rate of speech and thought process during these times becomes very rapid – one idea almost jumps over the other. People around find it difficult to come at pace with this kind of racing one-way communication.
These individuals are easily distracted at this stage as they remain very restless and impatient.
A manic may get irate and infuriated with people who differ from him or dismiss his impractical plans or ideas.
The manic individual experiences lack of inhibitions – this can lead to a reduced ability to foresee the costs of his impulsive actions. For example, he may recklessly spend huge amount of money shopping unnecessarily or even quit a job without any other source of income in sight.
These individuals project lavish plans and beliefs. They may even believe that they are exceptionally endowed with talents and can do almost anything.
These individuals continue to feel energetic in spite of their reduced sleep.

Symptoms and Signs of ‘Depression’

The depressive episodes may be triggered by unfortunate or strenuous happenings but are mostly activated without any clear reason.
The person does not enjoy doing anything and remains feeling hopeless, sad or empty.
He/she feels worn-out or exhausted all the while and may stay away from seeing friends, refrain himself from social activities and may even stop doing routine tasks such as shopping or showering.
The subject may also face a considerable loss of appetite, encounter sleep problems and subsequently lose weight.
Their concentration and memorizing abilities are also reduced substantially.
They are repressed by a deep sadness, mental sluggishness and feelings of unimportance or guilt.
In this stage of meaninglessness or guilt, they may even think of death or try committing suicide.

Now that we are aware of the signs of this disorder; should you spot these symptoms in yourself or someone else and take charge of the situation. Don’t wait to get help. If you ignore the problem and try to live with it, you may give way to problems in everything from your career to your relationships to your health. Encouragement and support from the society and help from an experienced psychiatrist can sure be helpful in the treatment of bipolar mood disorder.

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