Depression and Bipolar Disorder

The best sort of therapy will be Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). This is a therapy that helps you to change unhealthy thinking patterns which make your depression worse, and teaches you new healthier ways of dealing with stress and frustration. Many people who use CBT change their mental habits so much that they are able to decrease or even stop their medication, especially people with anxiety symptoms. Click on the Related Links for more information.

If you are bipolar, taking any antidepressant medication by itself without a mood stabilizer (like lithium, depakote, or lamictal) can swing you up into a manic episode. Antidepressants increase the levels of seratonin in the brain, and if you don't have a "lid" on the brain chemistry with those mood stabilizing drugs, you can indeed have a "high" swing. It's not just Prozac!

Some people have OCD and they don't have Bipolar disorder, but, they can get extremely irritated with their OCD which enables them to get annoyed and angry. Some people who do have OCD, do also suffer from Bipolar disorder, but not all people.

Read Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection, by John Cacioppo and William Patrick. ISBN 978-0-393-06170-3. Its major theme-we humans are a very social bunch, and being cut off from other people, might be the very worst punishment of all with very negative effects to our health. Cacioppo showed that prolonged loneliness can be as harmful to your health as smoking or obesity. A persistent sense of rejection or isolation can impair DNA transcription in our immune cells. This disruption also impairs thinking, will power, and perseverance, as well as our ability to read social signals and exercise social skills. It also limits our ability to internally regulate our emotions-all of which can combine to trap us in self-defeating behaviors that reinforce the very isolation and rejection that we dread. Well no, from broken heart syndrome yes. Loneliness can increase your likeliness to die earlier, or more of a chance for acquiring a disease.

Depression & Bipolar are classified as 'Mental Illnesses' as they stem from a chemical imbalance in the brain. My opionion is that having an illness that is classified as a 'Mental Illness' doesn't make you mentally ill or crazy.

Unfortunatelly many people who suffer from depresssion/bi polar have this stigma attached - because it's difficult to understand their behaviour is not by choice, but the result of a chemical effect in the body - and people who don't understand the illness are quick to label sufferers.

It is spread genetically. It is a genetic trait passed down through families.

Bipolar disorder is a mental problem. It shows periods of very high highs and very low lows. It is caused by genetic causes and probably extreme environmental events. It is not spread like a bacteria or a virus.

Everybody responds differently to different treatments. What works for one person might not work for another. The following have been shown to be effective at treating depression: 1. Antidepressant medications. 2. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). 3. St Johns Wort (standardized to 0.3% hypericin) 900mg daily. (It is important to inform your doctor before taking St Johns Wort because it can cause dangerous interactions with certain medications) People find many other things helpful for depression, such as alternative therapies, meditation, exercise, self-help books, a change of life-style or psychological therapies other than CBT. It is important for an individual (who is experiencing depression) to address their life-style or the underlying causes of depression... There maybe childhood trauma that needs to be addressed and worked through with a therapist. Or a change of life-style might be appropriate, such as changing a stressful or unfullfilling job or career. Any relationship problems also need to be addressed and worked through. Some people who experience depression find self-help or alternative therapies useful. However, moderate to severe depression also needs to be addressed by a doctor or it may continue to severely affect a person's life, and the depression may continue to get worse. Depression can be caused by a hereditary imbalance of brain chemicals (brain chemicals such as serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline) which will only respond to the appropriate medical intervention such as antidepressants. Depression can also be caused by psychological traumas (including negative childhood experiences and neglect) which should be addressed by a trained psychological therapist. There are other medical treatments used in extreme cases of unremitting, severe depression such as ECT (AKA electric shock treatment).

I don't think there is one. It's possible to form a latinate term for the fear of just about anything, but just because you can form some form of tortured labyrinthine term for it doesn't make it a real word.

(Most of the lists of "fear of..." that you see on the internet or wherever are not words that real psychiatrists actually use... there are maybe a couple of dozen common fears with words that really get used, and the rest are just things someone made up to fill out the list.)

Signs are the feeling of emptiness. The person doesnt enjoy life anymore. The person is unable to sleep or sleeps too long. The feeling to be hopeless and helpless rises. The person eats more or nothing. Thoughts appear that life is not worth living.

Manic-depression. Bi-Polar Disorder can be difficult for the individual experiencing the symptoms and for their friends and family. Bipolar Disorder is a complex illness and there is a range of severity. There are many different symptoms -- and several different types -- of bipolar disorder. The most common symptoms of the disorder are dramatic and unpredictable mood swings. The various types of bipolar disorder range from mild to severe.

If you think that you or someone you know is expereincing symptoms of Bi-polar Disorder then you should reach out to a professional. The symptoms of Bi-Polar Disorder can be treated effectively with counseling and medication.

Yes and no. Classic BP-I requires full manic episodes, but there is a new diagnosis of BP-II that requires only mild hypomanic episodes. These hypomanic episodes may be too small to notice.

Yes, antidepressant medications can decrease libido, or sex drive, for both men and women. Men can experience difficulty getting an erection, or keeping an erection hard. And women can experience almost a deadened sense of sexual interest, even with vigorous foreplay or masturbation. It can be extremely difficult for a man or woman to climax, IF able to feel sexual sensations at all. Many men and women on antidepressants simply 'give up' before climax, after spending up to an hour trying to achieve climax.

Do talk to your doctor. He or she might be able to decrease your medication dose. BUT, do NOT decrease your antidepressant on your own.

You can tell if someone is bipolar if they have what seems like to people in their body. If a person is Brian when they're happy, and then something ticks them off (little things do tick off people diagnosed with bipolarism) they will become a whole new person; resluting in minimum injuring someone ; maximum killing a person or thing.

If bipolarism is suspected more than likely the person is indeed bipolar. They should get checked immediately.

Statistically speaking, no age group suffers from depression more than another. With that being said, most individuals diagnosed with major depression receive a diagnosis between their late twenties to mid-thirties. Important note: Women have twice the chance of suffering from depression as men.

One 'form' of The Blues is the rainy day Blues, but like the Rain they always pass. The other ones are, of course, the edges of a meteorological Low Pressure System called a trough of depression.

Major depression is also known as unipolar. That means there is only one extreme; that of extreme lows.

Manic depression is known as bipolar disorder (manic depression is the old name). This has two extremes; periods of extreme depression and extreme elation.

Drug use & bipolar disorders are not good. Meth can send the user into a mania, which is followed quickly by deep depression & psychotic symptoms. Bipolar users have very poor impulse control when they are manic. The effect on people with the disorder can be even worse.

Depression can be caused by many things including traumatic events in your life like divorce or a break up. Other causes include too much stress, loneliness and low self esteem.

There are also natural triggers such as chemical imbalances in the brain caused by illness.

Alcohol causes depression and so does drug abuse.

There are also genetic causes for depression and it may run in the family.

Although there are a variety of reasons the most basic include the following.

1: Human instinct compels us to stay away from labels that makes a person appear inferior.

2: Fear of losing control over your own life is a scary thought. Even if it's a disease that's taking some of that control.

3: Ignorance and denial can manifest greatly into a person with a strong will.

4: A diagnosis makes it real.

Dissociative Identity Disorder, commonly known as split personality disorder is a psychiatric disorder in which the patients displays two or more distinct identities (like alter egos). Each identity is completely different to the other with their own habits and ways of interacting with the world. For DID to take place the personalities must both routinely take over the persons behaviour. The person will have no recollection of what happened whilst being controlled by the other personality nor will have knowledge of the existence of the other identity.

Symptoms include: unexplainable headaches and body pains, depression, severe memory loss, flashbacks of abuse or trauma, unexplainable phobias, comorbidity (the presence of another disorder medical or psychological), sudden anger without cause.

Patients with DID have often suffered severe childhood trauma or abuse.

-constant crying or bipolar emotions

-change in apetite

-excessive weight loss or gain

-disruption of normal sleeping pattern

-loss of intrest in daily activities

-difficulty focussing, thinking, remembering, or making decisions

-over thinking things

-lack of social interaction

-low motivation

-talk of death or wanting to die

-signs of cuts, bruises, and or injuries

-possibly giving away possessions

-feeling as if you are drowning, except you can see everyone else around you breathing.

Most of the time it's because of attitude, happier people tend to accept their life situation positively, but of course some people have better lives, e. g. Money, great spouse great community/ family etc.