Definition

• Manic depression, alternatively called bipolar disorder or manic-affective disorder, is a mental illness whose symptoms include episodes of both mania (extremely "high" or manic mood) and depression (severely "low", depressed mood). These mood changes are intense and very different from normal "mood swings."
  
  

Diagnosis

• To be diagnosed as having one of the types of bipolar disorder, a patient must have had at least one manic episode. Manic episodes are periods in which a person experiences an unreasonably elevated mood with inflated ego, irrational or impulsive behavior, unusual risk-taking actions and possibly even delusions.
  
  

Types

• There are several different types of bipolar disorder that are commonly diagnosed, including Bipolar I, Bipolar II, Cyclothymia and Bipolar NOS. Bipolar II is the most common form of this disorder, and is characterized by the "typical" symptomology of both severely manic and severely depressed episodes.
  
  

Treatment

• Bipolar disorder is treatable, but most cases will require the use of psychotropic medications to help control troublesome symptoms. The exact prescriptions will depend on the type of disorder and the individual's own symptoms, but may include antidepressants, Lithium, antipsychotics, anti-convulsants and other medications.
  
  

Warning

• Bipolar disorder, left untreated, can be very dangerous to both the patient and others around him. During manic episodes, patients often engage in dangerous risk-taking behaviors, and they are at risk of attempting suicide during depressive episodes.
  
  

Misconceptions

• Many people do not seek treatment for manic depression because they believe the medication will not help them, or, worse still, that they will become addicted or have a 'flat' mood while taking it. Neither of these are true; medications, when correctly prescribed and taken, can help most patients, and are not addictive.