WHAT IS BIPOLAR DISORDER?

If someone you caution about has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder (also called manic-depressive psychosis or PMD). It may feel like you’re the only person dealing with this illness. But he is not alone. Around 1.3% of the adult population in Spain has the same problem.

Being a chronic mental illness, the moment of diagnosis is difficult for many people; fear and uncertainty are the most frequent reactions. For example, many patients initially think that there is no solution; this leads them to have no confidence in the treatments and feel that the diagnosis has definitively ruined their lives. Fortunately, however, effective treatments for this problem can help you regain and maintain a typically satisfying and productive life. With this guide, we try to answer the questions you and many others before you.

WHY IS BIPOLAR DISORDER A DISEASE?

Human beings have ups and downs in mood; on the same day, we can even feel euphoric in the morning at ​​starting our vacation and tremendously sunk in the afternoon when we find out that a relative has a severe illness. Happiness, sadness, and fits of anger are ordinary emotions and an essential part of daily life. Because sadness and guilt are unpleasant feelings, we look for ways to avoid them and try to build a life that allows us to experience more feelings of satisfaction and joy. In other words, emotions will enable us to seek a state of well-being for ourselves and the people we care about because they help us react to the changes around us.

people who suffer from Bipolar Disorder

people who have Bipolar Disorder have ups and downs that usually hinder their well-being because they are excessively accentuated or disproportionate to the reasons that trigger them and have lost the normal variation of mood depending on the circumstances. These ups and downs and the loss of ordinary mood qualities affect thoughts, feelings, physical health, behaviour, and functioning.

Bipolar disorder is not the fault of the person who suffers from it, nor is it the result of a “weak” or unstable personality; it is a medical illness (such as asthma or diabetes) that has a genetic component and for which There are specific medications.

WHAT IS BEING BIPOLAR?

A person is considered to have the bipolar disorder if, throughout his life, he has suffered an alternation between periods in which his mood has been frankly depressed and others (at least one) in which he was euphoric. So far, we could all be diagnosed with bipolar disorder, so it will be necessary to define why these states become “pathological” or constitute a disease.

Anyone would understand that these “mood swings” are a “disorder” if, because of them, the person has had problems at work, has difficulties maintaining relationships with other people over time, or has observed significant variations in their way of thinking. React to life and their behaviour depending on whether they are euphoric or depressed. That is to say, that emotions are not compatible with his search for well-being, but rather that he has become, in a certain way, “a slave to his state of mind”, which prevents him from leading an everyday life.

BUT YOU ARE NOT ALONE

Bipolar Disorder or Manic-depressive Psychosis affects more than 1% of the population. Who suffers from it and the people everywhere them, this disorder can be alarming, but you have to know that you are not alone in the disease. Affected people and their families in many countries worldwide have come together to form associations that provide invaluable support to all those who share the same difficulties.

CLASSIFICATION OF THE TYPES OF BIPOLAR DISORDER:

T. Bipolar TYPE I

When the person has manic episodes alone or accompanied by depressive episodes. If you have had only one manic episode so far, you will have T.bipolar I, and you will probably have more manic and depressive episodes if you don’t start drug treatment NOW!

Bipolar T. TYPE II

If you have only had hypomanic episodes with or without depression but no manics, you have a type II. This type is difficult to recognize because the person is “very well”, they sleep little and are very active. But there is a danger of having depression, and if we only fight them with antidepressants can trigger a severe manic episode.

CYCLOTHYMIA

It is a “mild” bipolar disorder; it has milder ups and downs but equally maintained over time.

RAPID CYCLING Bipolar T.

In any combination (hypomanic, manic, depressive), people with more than four episodes a year have this variant of the disease. This form seen in 15% of people with bipolar disorder.