Bipolar Disorder
Bi-polar disorder is an illness that steals time from one’s life. It often first shows itself in early adulthood, and is characterized by mania, depression or both.
The manic phase may last from days to months and can include the following symptoms:
- Agitation or irritation
- Elevated mood
- Hyperactivity
- Increased energy
- Lack of self-control
- Racing thoughts
- Inflated self-esteem (delusions of grandeur, false beliefs in special abilities)
- Little need for sleep
- Over-involvement in activities
- Poor temper control
- Reckless behavior
- Binge eating, drinking, and/or drug use
- Impaired judgment
- Sexual promiscuity
- Spending sprees
- Tendency to be easily distracted
The depressed phase involves very serious symptoms of major depression:
- Difficulty concentrating remembering, or making decisions
- Eating disturbances
- Loss of appetite and weight loss
- Overeating and weight gain
- Fatigue or listlessness
- Feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness and/or guilt
- Loss of self-esteem
- Persistent sadness
- Persistent thoughts of death
- Sleep disturbances
- Excessive sleepiness
- Inability to sleep
- Suicidal thoughts
- Withdrawal from activities that were once enjoyed
- Withdrawal from friends
There is a high risk of suicide with bipolar disorder. While in either phase, patients may abuse alcohol or other substances, which can worsen the symptoms.
Sometimes there is an overlap between the two phases. Manic and depressive symptoms may occur simultaneously or in quick succession in what is called a mixed state.
With these patients, I work with a psychopharmacologists, who is a psychiatrist who specializes in the prescription of medicines. Although the medicine stabilizes the illness, patients still may have behavioral patterns that they want changed. I teach you how to identify patterns of behavior that have not worked and replace them with ones that work better.