Dealing with My Bipolar Sister

1539 Words4 Pages

More than 57 million people in the United States suffer from some type of mental disorder. Mental illnesses can turn a person’s world upside down. These medical conditions can disrupt every aspect of a person and their family’s lives. Mental disorders do not discriminate; age, sex, or color does not matter when it comes to mental illness. Many people live with different types of mental health problems. These problems can be anxieties, drug or alcohol addiction, obsessive compulsive disorder, and personality and mood disorders. People can suffer from one or more of these conditions. There are treatment options available but unfortunately treatable mental illness is being left untreated. Many people feel ashamed or just don’t realize the help available to them. In the past several decades there have been substantial changes in the care for those with mental disorders but even with all the technology, science and a better understanding of what mental illness is, improvement of the lives of those with a mental illness still falls short. One disorder seems to be making its way to the front of the line of all the different disorders out there. Bipolar disorder. Statistics are saying by 2020 bipolar disorder will be the number two health ailment, right behind heart decease (Reilly 224). We can teach society about this disorder and educate people on the see-saw of emotions tied to bipolar and the treatment that is available to them to help ease some of the weight on bipolar patients and their loved ones. There is hope!
Bipolar is a disorder that involves the brain, to what extent is still unclear. Bipolar disorder was, and sometimes still is, called Manic Depression. A person with bipolar disorder will experience clinical depre...

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...he day ever comes. I will stand by her and do whatever it takes to make sure she has a happy, healthy life.
Work Cited
-Healy David. Mania: A Short History of Bipolar Disorder. The John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 2008. Print
-Hornbacher Marya. Madness: A Bipolar Life. Mariner Books. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Boston. 2008. Print
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-Nydeggere Rudy. Understanding and Treating Depression. Praeger Publishers. 2008: 67-
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-Reilly Philip. Is It In Your Genes. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 2004: 223-228. Print
-Thase ME. Bipolar disorder therapeutics: maintenance treatment. Bio Psychiatry. 2000: 573-
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