Bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness in which a person alternates between periods of severe depression and periods of mania (extreme joy, overactivity, or irritability). The illness is also called manic-depressive illness or manic depression. Approximately 3 million people in the United States suffer from bipolar disorder. If treated inadequately, the illness can have tragic consequences, such as suicide.
In a period of depression, a person suffering from bipolar disorder may feel sad, anxious, irritable, hopeless, or unmotivated. Depressed patients may experience insomnia or excessive sleeping, decreased or increased appetite, weight loss or weight gain, slowing of thought and movement, and poor memory and concentration. Many think about wanting to die and have unrealistic feelings of guilt.
In a period of mania, a person may experience euphoria (indescribable happiness). The person may also be unusually irritable or may alternate between euphoria and irritability. Manic patients sometimes behave inappropriately. For example, they may laugh uncontrollably at funerals. Periods of mania also are characterized by increased energy, racing thoughts, increased rate of speech, decreased need for sleep, exaggerated sense of self-worth, and poor judgment.
Periods of depression and mania may follow one another at intervals of days, weeks, or months. Some patients experience mania and depression at the same time. They are among the most severely affected bipolar patients.
Scientists believe genetic factors cause many cases of bipolar disorder. About half of all patients first show signs of the illness in their teen-age years.
Treatment for the disorder includes drugs and psychotherapy. The most commonly prescribed medications by the allopathic doctors are lithium, carbamazepine, and valproate.