|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 19, 2019 18:04:09 GMT -4
|
|
|
|
Post by Diangie acosta on Feb 19, 2019 23:22:01 GMT -4
It's difficult having a loved that suffers from a mood disorder and not know about it. One might think that it's "normal" for the someone's personality and that's how they knew them for a long time. Alcohol can also trigger the onset of bipolar disorder. Luckily, there are medication out there to control the mood swings and prevent the person from doing risky behaviors. It is important to recognize the symptoms of mania because treating only the symptoms of depression can bring to the surface the manic symptoms. Again, along with many other psych diseases, bipolar disorder has a stigma. This one is one of the old ones, known as "you are crazy, one day your up and one day your down, you cannot make up your mind". Very common old misconception of what being bipolar means. Educating society about these issues and how to deal with them might also reduce the amount of people on social security and disability.
|
|
|
|
Post by Felix Kurilov on Feb 19, 2019 23:22:45 GMT -4
Bipolar in kids is a tough one. I wondered many times in my one child of three if he was heading that way. He did not, hew. But I know for a fact that a few of my kids friends got diagnosed with it years later. It is important to bring this condition to parents awareness and start treatment as soon as possible. No one would like to have a child labeled as bipolar but it is better been labeled and treated than not. That is what has to be communicated to parents. They have to overcome this stigma first and help their kids to do the same. Admit to it or not behavior and condition still will be present but avoiding it will create outcomes that much worse in a long run. I was amazed how many times in conversations with parents kids' behavior was labeled as " its just a teen acting out" and that may be so but the worst has to be ruled out first, and parents are primary practitioners in this case. I really think parents should be mandated to go through some type of psychology course sponsored by feds/state for child development and behavior before they start school and refresh courses after. I would prefer my taxes to be used on this vs. STUPID WALL.
|
|
|
|
Post by Daphne Benet on Feb 20, 2019 4:44:41 GMT -4
Bipolar disorder has always been an interesting topic to me, mainly because I am also guilty of calling my moody friends “bipolar” (and vice versa). With this comes the old school negative stigma of mental disorders that most of us are all guilty of, considering calling a friend “bipolar” when they are moody is certainly NOT a compliment, we just have gotten so used to this that is not even an insult but more so a joke and in all honesty I cant tell which one is worse.
It is definitely not easy to diagnose as it is very complex in terms of signs and symptoms and they can be manifested at different times and have different triggers as well. We all have our ups and downs in life and we all react with depressed or elevated mood to these circumstances making it even harder to diagnose. There is no way to measure emotions and everything is just so subjective to the patient which most of the time are not well educated on the topic or on the doctor, which can always be wrong.
I’ve always been opposed to talk about these disorders as “normal” or “its ok” because I feel a lot of people just rely on them to not face their problems or take accountability when it comes to their actions. I’ve seen people that are perfectly fine but they rather act as they have an issue just to get attention or pitty from other people instead. However, I also find it necessary to make people understand that IF you really have a mental disorder “it is OK” to ask for help and life can go on as normal as possible as long as they stay compliant with their treatment and they do things outside medications as part of the treatment to get better, wether that is therapy or meditation etc. I am also not a fan of having people coming to an office asking for medications for whatever symptom they are experiencing, which again, takes away the responsibility on them to do something to get better and they just rather “have a pill to make it go away”. This behavior only makes them dependent on drugs and doctor care and gives them zero responsibility on their own health/life decisions. Something, I think, we all need to be aware of these days.
|
|
|
|
Post by Zan Rizvi on Feb 20, 2019 11:52:18 GMT -4
From first hand experience I can tell you how difficult it is to deal with a family member who has bipolar disorder. My cousin and her mother have had a strained relationship their whole life due to improper handling of the disease. Because of misdiagnosis of the disease and her psychiatrist just prescribing antidepressants for her diagnosis of MDD my aunt has had many manic episodes in her lifetime. This caused her to neglect anyone and everyone in her life, she would go missing for hours, sometimes she would hide in the basement, she would threaten suicide, and the list goes on. To this day she has not been diagnosed with Bipolar and her is just receiving meds for MDD and she continues to have manic episodes and she continues to have difficulties maintaining relationships. She is now resistant to her medications also. I have been telling my uncle for a while to see a new psychiatrist and maybe try ECT but I have been unsuccessful thus far. The manic episodes are truly detrimental to a persons life and they should seek help immediately.
|
|
|
|
Post by Nicholas James on Feb 20, 2019 12:19:05 GMT -4
I know two people who have bipolar disorder and refuse to be treated for it. One of them is my girlfriends uncle. The man will stay up a week straight with minimal sleep in his garage cleaning up and constructing mini houses out of wood. Then he will also go times where he will not leave the house and all and sleep for days on end. The sad part about it is that he wont seek treatment because he believes there is a bad stigma about being diagonsed with Bipolar Disorder. His dad is a psychiatrist and I belive that makes it even worse because he does not want his father to know that he has a mental illness. And this guy is in his 50s! I find it very sad that he is afriad to go talk to someone about it when he must know that his extreme mood swings and going from such high energy no sleep to sleeping for days on end is not "normal." I am not sure what the answer is on how to get people to be more accepting of mental illness and open to go out for help to it. But I hope that my generation of the millennials will help change this and help these people.
|
|
|
|
Post by Kathryn Keebler on Feb 20, 2019 12:38:24 GMT -4
After reading this article and the other responses, it seems like Bipolar is such an underestimated topic. It seems like everyone has friends and family that have bipolar disorders, including myself. It is such a disruptive and overwhelming condition not only for the patient but also the people around them. This particular mental condition can destroy families so quickly when it is not recognized and addressed and can be traumatic for everyone involved. I appreciate all of the work that people are doing to reduce the stigma of mental illness because it's not just the patients that are affected- it affects families in the present and down through generations and it is important to be proactive in getting help for these patients.
|
|
|
|
Post by John Heifner on Feb 20, 2019 12:48:39 GMT -4
The most interesting statistic cited in the article is that 82% of bipolar individuals cite serious impairment. We can equate this to mean that most bipolar patients are unable to continue normal function within society. This coupled with the estimate of 4% of adults having bipolar episodes potentially equates to an economically detrimental situation. Compared to other mental health disorders in which patients can still appropriately function within society, bipolar disorder may prohibit most patients from being economically productive which could further their episodes as well as the obvious decline in living conditions. As the article states, the intensity of symptoms helps differentiate bipolar from other less severe disorders. This fact shows the importance of the historical symptomatology when a patient is being evaluated.
|
|
|
|
Post by Shivani Sharma on Feb 21, 2019 13:58:05 GMT -4
I am very interested in the research related to what causes/triggers Bipolar disorder. From my understanding, people are born with certain chemical imbalances in their brain and sometimes factors like environment or alcohol or other recreational drugs can trigger bipolar in people who have these imbalance. One particular environmental factor that can do that is virus. I think it is really interesting. Research have found association between having viral illnesses and bipolar, particularly HIV and Herpes (HHV 6). There are two possible theories in this association. One is that the stress of having a viral illness, mental or physical (weak immune system) can trigger bipolar or is it the virus itself that causes bipolar? General knowledge about virus is that, they affect the body and then stay in it as a dormant stage afterwards. However, according to the research done by Dr. Prusty from Stanley Medical research institute, brain biopsy of patients with bipolar disorder showed active HHV6 infection in purkinje cells. This not only shows that virus can actually cause neuronal damage but also can cause cognitive issues like mood disturbances. Pinkinje cells are found in the cerebellum and are important for movement, muscle control, balance and posture. In addition to that, they also play a huge role in language, emotions, memory and perception. I think it is really interesting and is definitely a step in the right direction. Finding an objective data like that can help greatly how we treat and manage bipolar disorder. In general, mood disorders are treated by managing the symptoms but research like this can help in finding the cause of the disorder and one day may help in curing it.
|
|
Janice Rhymer Martinez
Guest
|
Post by Janice Rhymer Martinez on Feb 22, 2019 1:01:31 GMT -4
For most of us, our mood stays on the same level throughout our lives. Of course, there can be swings according to events around us, but they tend to be limited without having a significant impact overall.
Bipolar Disorder is a condition that portends extremities in your mood, behavior, energy, and activity levels. The mood swings of bipolar disorder last for days, weeks or even several months. It is difficult to diagnose bipolar disorder as its signs and symptoms may be subtle. Long-term treatment, including medication, external support, and self-help, can allow to still live a healthy life.
Nowadays people use the term bipolar to loosely, if a person is experiencing normal mood swings and/or acting out because of incident that occurred and other people around them dont want to deal with it, that person is usually labeled as bipolar or just mentally unstable.
Most people dont really know the signs and symptoms of this disorder and therefore many of them go without help and they don't consult a mental health professional immediately.
Bipolar disorder in children is very hard to diagnose, is it just a phase?, are they just acting out? Medicating a child at such a young age, it is really what most parents want? There is still a big stigma bipolar disorder, or what most people tend to call it; just plain out crazy! And no one wants to be labeled as such!.
I do believe that with time, education and the help of social media, mental health issues will be at the forefront and a big topic of discussion. Thus treatment and management of these disorders will be better.
|
|
|
|
Post by Andrea Akyeampong on Feb 23, 2019 0:43:26 GMT -4
This article was a good reader friendly version of explaining different types of bipolar disorders to the masses. Even as a medical student I have been guilty of jokingly calling friends "bipolar" or "moody" forgetting how serious of an illness this can be to those who are affected by it on a daily basis. What I found interesting in the article is how easily bipolar disorder can be misdiagnosed with other disorders such as ADHD, GAD, and even Borderline Personality Disorder, all the more reason of why a detailed history is important before diagnosing the patient. I also agreed with the article of how difficult it is to convince loved ones to get help for any type of psychiatric disorder. People can be in denial of their illness or just accept that it is part of their personality. Being gentle and not demanding or threatening is very important in order to start the journey of a loved one receiving care for their disorder. Overall I appreciated how in the conclusion of the article the author took away the stigma of mental illness and put it in a perspective of mental illness in similarty to any other disease of the body (Hypertension, Diabetes etc.).
|
|
