Crippling anxiety and depression. Drenched in sadness. Drowned in a sea of sorrow in solitude.
‘Good looking’.
Vibrating with verve and energy. All set. Bubbling with abnormal joy!
Did you suddenly go from doom and gloom to a burst of joyous bloom and back to everlasting gloom? Bipolar disorder is a mental illness in which the affected brain goes through extreme fluctuations of mood and energy that stifle normal functions. During the episode, the emotional state is intense and can last a day or even weeks! However, there are also periods of neutral moods without the irritable mood swings. The moods experienced in bipolar disorder are generally categorized as (a) manic/hypomanic or (b) depressed. Although mania and hypomania are different in nature, the features of the episodes are the same.
Bipolar I
In bipolar I disorder, a person usually experiences manic episodes lasting at least a week with an unusual amount of energy or irritability. The person loses sleep, speaks faster, is easily distracted, and has more energy and activity. The person also tends to become more reckless with manic episodes. In rare cases, some even experience hallucinations.
In a hypomanic episode, the symptoms are less severe and generally last less than a week.
However, a major depressive episode characterized by extreme sadness and depression lasts at least 2 weeks. Suicidal thoughts are very common during these episodes.
Bipolar Disorder II
In bipolar II disorder, a person experiences both depressive and hypomanic episodes at least once. The person often alternates between the two. People with bipolar II disorder also tend to develop an anxiety disorder and substance use disorder.
Cyclothymic Disorder
This is a milder version of other conditions mentioned above. However, this takes years. The person goes through many mild episodes of major depression and hypomania. A characteristic of cyclothymic disorder is that the mood swings never stop for at least two months.
Therapy
All three categories require a full diagnosis with a specialist, followed by intensive therapy and counseling, with the help of drugs, of course. Some treatments take longer than others. It all depends on an early diagnosis.
World Bipolar Disorder Day is observed in memory of Vincent van Gogh, left a legacy of paintings that unfortunately brought him no recognition during his lifetime. The maestro of Impressionism had a short-lived painting career, but his craft revolutionized art. Van Gogh battled depression and anxiety all his life. He created his most admired work “The Starry Night” while being admitted to an asylum where he was being treated for “Acute Mania and Generalized Delirium” (a former medical term for bipolar disorder). Apparently, Van Gogh admitted himself to the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole insane asylum.
The tortured genius sold only one of his paintings during his lifetime. Although during his 10-year stint as a painter, he has created over 900 paintings. Gone too soon at the age of 37 with a (probably self-inflicted) gunshot wound.
Image: Starry Night/Vincent Van Gogh/Wikimedia
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Cover Image: Pixabay