Manifestations of a Patient With Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder typically occurs when the person is sixteen years old and up or during the 20’s. In women who have the disorder, they usually have the depression first. While males experience the manic phase as the first manifestation. Attacks of alternating depression and mania typically last from several weeks to several months. Usually, patients who’s symptoms are left untreated experience four episodes of mania or depression over any ten-year period. A lot of individuals with bipolar disorder do well in between attacks of the disease. In “fast-cycling” bipolar disorder, on the other hand, which represents 5 to 15 percent of all cases, a person experiences four or more mood episodes within a year and may have little or no normal functioning in between episodes. In rare cases, swings between mania and depression occur over a period of days.
In one form of bipolar disorder, a person feels major depression and hypomanic episodes. Hypomanic episodes are actually a milder form of mania. In a related disorder called cyclothymic disorder, a person’s mood alternates between mild depression and mild mania. Some people with cyclothymic disorder later develop full-blown bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder may also follow a seasonal pattern, with a person typically experiencing depression in the fall and winter and mania in the spring or summer.
Patients who are in a state of being depressed feel very tired and very much indifferent form activities, work, and people that once brought them pleasure. Their alertness is dininished, concentrate poorly, feel tired, and experience changes—usually an increase—in their appetite and sleep. They often feel a sense of worthlessness or helplessness. In addition, they may feel pessimistic or hopeless about the future and may think about or attempt suicide. In some cases of severe depression, people may experience psychotic symptoms, such as delusions (false beliefs) or hallucinations (false sensory perceptions). See Psychosis.
When we take a look at the manic episode, patients have elated emotions and feel happy without any reason. But they can be irritable and selfish. In this highly energized state they sleep less, have racing thoughts, and talk in rapid-fire speech that goes off in many directions. They have inflated self-esteem and confidence and may even have delusions of grandeur. Mania may make people impatient and abrasive, and when frustrated, physically abusive. They often behave in socially inappropriate ways, think irrationally, and show impaired judgment. For example, they may take airplane trips all over the country, make indecent sexual advances, and formulate grandiose plans involving indiscriminate investments of money. Mania can be very well have disruptive behaviors, these can be provoking confrontations with obnoxious or combative behavior, buying outrageously expensive gifts, excessive gambling, or abusing alcohol or other drugs.