Bipolar Disorder – Manic Depressive Illness
Poles are all over the place. With the upcoming elections, I have heard about 5 million too many poles. Bruce Jenner pole-vaulted his way to an Olympic medal (does anyone know if he got a face lift or is there stretched rubber glued on his face?). Even here in Charlottesville, there are pole-dancing classes. In Europe there is Poland.
In mental health, there is bipolar disorder…and 2 poles is not better than 1. There is Bipolar I and Bipolar II, and in this article I am going to focus only on I. Bipolar disorder I involves mania. Depression doesn’t have to occur, but it almost always does. It’s like that saying, “What goes up must come down.”
According to the American Psychiatric Association, a manic episode involves at least 1 week of “abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive or irritable mood.” We often joke (or not joke) to a person who is too high on caffeine and in a frenzy that they are manic. Manic persons can be “high on life” even when life sucks.
During this time of changed mood, some symptoms accompany this mood. Inflated self-esteem…like Hollywood actors. When someone has grandiosity, they act like Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic, “I’m King of the World!” Less sleep needed: Now I love to sleep 9 hours, but if I were manic, I would only need maybe a couple of hours of sleep a night and not be tired. Chatty Cathy: One becomes a motor-mouth. They would be thrown off The View within 5 minutes. Flight of ideas: This is like Speed Racer in your brain. Distractibility: Focusing on one thing is as easy as gluing your eyes CSPAN for 10 hours. Goal-oriented: So a person who hasn’t read a book since 3rd grade decides to become the next John Grisham while also painting every room in the house. Risky behavior for the sake of pleasure: What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas…but from gambling, shopping sprees, and sex with everyone except the bus driver, there are bad consequences.
The bipolar disorder is damaging to the person’s work or personal life. 90% of persons with bipolar disorder are admitted to a psychiatric hospital to protect the patient and/or others. Psychosis can occur, which occurred to a good friend of mine while in college. She called me saying “voices” were telling her a student mafia would kill her. At that time, I didn’t know what bipolar disorder was, so that totally confused me.
There are some medical conditions that can make someone appear to have bipolar disorder, so these conditions need to be ruled out. Also since substance abuse and alcoholism are common in bipolar patients, it can be challenging to know if the mania is from drugs or due to bipolar disorder.
Many persons with bipolar disorder like the mania because of the high energy and elevated mood. However, besides the trouble the mania causes, eventually most of them will “crash” into depression at some time. Actually some folks will have mania and depression at the same time or yin-yang it back and forth in a blink of an eye.
Treatment can be very effective. However, as we have learned from great performers who have battled bipolar disorder, finding the right medicines and still feeling good can be a challenge. But since 15% of bipolar persons commit suicide, treatment is necessary. So I applaud Patty Duke to Margot Kidder to erase the stigma of having bipolar disorder.
Catherine Morrissette at UVA Center for Psychiatric Research asked me to bring awareness on bipolar disorder, and also to let me know of a clinical trial that is currently going on. For more information on this study, contact her at 434-243-4631 or www.uvahealth.com and click on “Patients &Visitors” (Printed June 2008)
© Dr. John Hong, Inc
