Bipolar Disorder Essay

Bipolar Disorder in Teens and Adults
Madison Bradley
Greenbrier High school

Author Note
This research paper was prepared for LNG 322, 2nd period for Ms. Jessica Coleman.
Bipolar Disorder
It is like a roller coaster, an all-time high and then an all-time low. Bipolar disorder is a type of mood disorder. It usually develops in a person’s mid-teens or early adult years but can affect people of all ages. With proper treatment, many patients are able to control their mood swings. Untreated bipolar disorder can lead to many serious problems, including substance abuse, financial crises, interpersonal difficulties, and increased risk of suicide. Although bipolar disorder is not taken seriously, it is a very life changing illness that is caused by various mood states between highs of mania to the lows of major depression.
What is Bipolar Disorder?
In the United States over two million people are diagnosed with the psychological problem of bipolar disorder. One of the major reasons behind the rise of people suffering from the disorder is contributed by the complications that hinder accurate diagnosis of the disease. It is mainly because of the delay in the diagnostic process that the number of people suffering from the disorder has increased extraordinarily.
According to the National Depressive and Manic Depressive Association (NDMDA), half of the respondents said visiting three or more medical beneficial before being actually diagnosed.
On the other hand the survey also included respondents who reported of being correctly diagnosed with bipolar disorder after waiting for ten years or even more than that. In order to carefully understand bipolar disorder it is important to know that there are actually two prominent categorie...

... middle of paper ...

...0-fold increased risk of suicide than the general population has been seen. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that bipolar disorders are one of the ten diseases that cause most widely permanent disability. Mostly people are diagnosed between 20and 30 years of age span. Since the disease is often not detected, no information about the exact number of those affected can be made accurately.

Bipolar disorder is a major public health problem associated with significant morbidity and a high mortality risk. Several factors make treatment complex, including the fluctuation of mood episodes and the effects of these episodes on patient well-being, treatment non adherence, and comorbid psychiatric disorders. Guidelines are available for mania, depression, and other episodes. A number of pharmacologic and psychosocial treatments are under study in randomized trials.