World Bipolar Day

                  March 30^th was World Bipolar Day. I do not know what it is like to live with bipolar disorder, but I think it is important that a depression blog spend a little time sharing about this mental illness.

                  The purpose of World Bipolar Day is to bring awareness to bipolar disorder and eliminate the stigma surrounding it. This day is meant to be an opportunity to educate people about bipolar disorder. It is celebrated on March 30^th because it is the birthday of Vincent Van Gogh, who was posthumously diagnosed with bipolar disorder. 

                  Bipolar disorder was previously known as manic-depressive illness. This disorder causes shifts in a person’s mood, energy, and ability to function. These shifts can be severe. The shifts are not normal ups and downs. The shifts of bipolar disorder can be dramatic mood swings. A person can go from being overly high and/or irritable to sad and hopeless. Then shift back again. The high periods are called manic, while the low periods are called depressive episodes. 

                  Hypomania is mild to moderate level of mania. It often feels good to the person, and they may function well. As a result, they may not recognize that there is something wrong. Severe episodes of mania can include symptoms of psychosis, in which the person is out of touch with reality. They may have hallucinations, which can lead to a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia. 

                  The symptoms of mania include, but are not limited to increased energy, activity, and restlessness, excessively “high”, overly good, euphoric mood, extreme irritability, racing thoughts and talking very fast, jumping from one idea to another, distractibility, and little sleep needed. 

                  The symptoms of depression include, but are not limited to poor appetite or eating too much, trouble sleeping or sleeping too much, nervousness or worry, loss of interest in and withdrawal from usual activities, feelings of sadness that don’t go away, irritability or restlessness, repeated thoughts of death or suicide. 

                  There are four types of bipolar disorder: Bipolar I Disorder, Bipolar II Disorder, Cyclothymic Disorder or Cyclothymia, and Bipolar Disorder, “other specified” and “unspecified”.

                  Treatment includes psychotherapy, medication, self-management strategies, and complementary health approaches (these compliment the first three and do not treat bipolar disorder on their own).

                  Organizations such as NAMI and the International Bipolar Foundation can provide support for individuals living with bipolar disorder. I used resources from both of these organizations to write this post. NAMI also supports loved ones and caregivers of individuals living with bipolar disorder.

                  It is important that we work to reduce the stigma surrounding bipolar disorder. Too often people refer to everyday mood swings as bipolar disorder. As you have read here, there is more to bipolar disorder than mood swings. It is a stigma to casually use bipolar disorder as a description of a person. Bipolar disorder is an illness and as such should be treated as one.