Bipolar Disorder Psychology - Research Paper Example

Individuals suffering from bipolar disorder experience frequent ‘mood swings’, switching from a very good mood, to depression or irritation very quickly, often with no apparent environmental trigger to the mood change. There are several different forms of bipolar disorder. Type I, once also known as manic depression, have experienced at least one manic episode, characterized by extremely high mood, often being irrational, and periods of major depression. Type II sufferers do not experience full mania, but instead have periods called hypomania where they are highly impulsive and have high levels of energy.

People with type II bipolar disorder alternate between depression and hypomania. Finally, there is a milder form of bipolar disorder known as cyclothymia, which has less severe mood springs, and alternate between mild depression and hypomania . There are a number of different symptoms associated with the manic phase of bipolar disorder, and these are the ways in which sufferers differ most from the average population. A manic phase may last from a few days to months, with no apparent trigger for either the beginning or the ending of the phase.

Symptoms include: low need for sleep, bad judgment, poor decision making, reckless behavior (e.g. binge eating, promiscuity and spending sprees), elevated mood (e.g. hyperactivity, racing thoughts, high self-esteem and increased energy), and acting very irrigated or agitated . These moods appear extreme when compared to average society, especially as the shift to a manic episode is often sudden with no apparent cause. As a consequence, individuals suffering from bipolar disorder are often considered to have temper problems, be unreasonably upset or similar accusations, by people who do not understand the condition.

According to the Axis system of the DSM-IV-TR, bipolar disorder is classified as falling along axis I, categorized as a mood disorder. The manual specifies four forms of bipolar disorder, bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymic disorder and unspecified . Bipolar disorder is often diagnosed through the use of questionnaires and interviews that focus on episodes that the individual has had . Bipolar disorder is frequently under diagnosed with many doctors and psychiatrists recognizing only the depression component of the disorder.

As a consequence, one of the most common treatments given to sufferers of bipolar disorder is antidepressants. While these are effective against the depressant part of the disorder, these do not help the manic portion of the disorder . There is some consideration that the use of antidepressants as treatment for the disorder may be detrimental, speeding up the cycle of episodes and producing resistance to treatment . Historically, one of the most common treatments for bipolar disorder was lithium.

The premise of this treatment was to effectively suppress emotion, and as a consequence suppress the manic and depressive portions of bipolar disease. Often, individuals subjected to this treatment were not diagnosed, as anything beyond having strong emotions, and the treatment was not effective at addressing the disorder whatsoever . As there is no known cause of the disorder, either chemically or physically, there is no current way of preventing it from occurring. Throughout the history of clinical recognition and treatment, the reoccurrence rate of bipolar disord