Bipolar Disorder Which Effects PersonalityBipolar disorder is a brain disorder that causes abnormal shifts in a personÃÂs mood, energy, and ability to function. About 5.7 million American adults or 2.6 percent of the population 18 and older in any given year (Kessler, 2005), have bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder generally develops in the late adolescence or early adulthood. Bipolar disorder affects personality in many ways. I will be discussing the definition, characteristics, and symptoms of this disorder. Including how this disorder affects personality, and the traditional/alternative treatments for this disorder.
Bipolar or manic-depressive, disorder is a mood disorder that causes radical emotional changes and mood swings, from manic highs to depressive lows. The majority of bipolar individuals experience alternating episodes of mania (an elvated or euphoric mood or irritable state) and depression (Ford-Martin, 2003, para. 2). There are three stages of this disorder. Bipolar I disorder involves recurrent episodes of mania and depression.
Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night. Oil on canvas,...
Sodium valproate is a common mood stabilizer
English: MDF Bipolar Organisation, Mill Street, Ne...A patient at this level has feelings of talkativeness, elation, and increased sociability. This disorder is characterized by one or more manic episodes which include symptoms of both mania and depression occurring nearly every day for at least 1 week. Some people, however, never develop mania but instead experience milder episodes of hypomania that alternates with depression; this form of illness is called bipolar II disorder. The characteristics in this disorder are one or more depressive episodes which are accompanied by at least one hypomania, a milder form of mania. Cyclothmia is the cycle of hypomanic episodes with depression that does not reach major depressive proportions. A third of patients with this disorder will eventually develop bipolar I or II disorder later in life.
Symptoms of bipolar depressive episodes include low energy levels, feelings of despair, difficulty concentrating, extreme fatigue, and slowed mental and physical capabilities. Manic...