Bipolar Disorder Definition

By the bipolar disorder definition, bipolar disorder is a manic-depressive psychological illness. This means that it is a disease that is psychological in nature and causes drastic mood swings between mania, the opposite of relaxation and depression. Going by the bipolar disorder definition, the disease may seem relatively easy to spot. However, taking a closer look at the symptoms of bipolar disorder and other bipolar disorder information reveals why this disease is so hard to tackle.

Bipolar Disorder Information

To begin with, just like depression and several other psychological disorders, bipolar disorder is hard to spot and pin down in its initial stages though we have a clear bipolar disorder definition. In order to understand this dilemma, we must take a closer look at bipolar disorder information that deals with various symptoms of mania and depression prevalent in bipolar disorders. A patient going through the depressive phase of bipolar disorders experiences the lowest levels of sadness accompanied by a lack of motivation and interest in most activities. The patient may also experience a drop in concentration levels, sex drive and appetite. On the other hand, manic episodes have symptoms that are quite the opposite. They include extreme euphoria that can often be compared to a drug high. In this state, the patient feels unrealistically optimistic and positive about one’s abilities and the world in general. This can be accompanied by rapid speech, random and quickly changing thoughts and extreme behavior.

While most of these symptoms are quite characteristic with bipolar disorders, they are also quite common in everyday life. To put it simply, even individuals who do not suffer from bipolar disorder often go through these emotions in lower frequency. For this reason, despite all the bipolar disorder information available, it is still quite tricky to diagnose and treat the disease in its earlier stages.

Causes Of Bipolar Disorders

Just like the symptoms of bipolar disorders, even bipolar disorder causes are quite complex in nature and extremely hard to pin point. In fact, different factors play varying roles in patients of bipolar disorders and cause for an increase on how to reduce stress. Some of these causes may also be overlapping as one cause triggers the other and so on. The complex structure of these causes is what has kept most doctors from zeroing down on a single objective cause for this disorder. The following are some of the major bipolar disorder causes that often work in unison to cause the disease.

– Genetic factors are known to be responsible for bipolar disorders in many cases. In fact, individuals with a parent suffering from bipolar disorders also have a 15-20% chance of suffering from the same disorder.

– Biological or physiological factors such as inactivity or unregulated activity of neurotransmitters such as norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin play an equally important role in bringing about the onset of bipolar disorders. These are considered to be underlying bipolar disorder causes.

– Environmental factors are perhaps equally important for the onset of bipolar disorder. In fact, even if the patient has a biological or genetic predisposition for bipolar disorders, it is often an external event that kicks off the disorder in most cases. For this reason, though the disease may be dormant in the patient for a while, it is an external catalyst that is often responsible for setting the ball of manic-depression in motion.