It is a serious and chronic mental illness
Many times we use certain medical terms lightly that correspond to diseases and not to specific aspects of personality. So it is very common to say that we have depression when we are only sad or disappointed.
Another of the terms that are gaining popularity in recent times is bipolar disorder. How many times have we used the expression “I’m just bipolar” to refer to our changing moods or fickle desires? The truth is that bipolar disorder is a serious and chronic mental illness that is also known as manic depressive disorder.
Learn about manic depression
- Manic-depressive illness is a psychological disorder characterized by alternating periods of depression with manic episodes. It is not a simple change in mood, as is mistakenly thought when talking about bipolar disorder. In reality, it is a serious and chronic disease that presents a high risk of suicide and that profoundly affects the quality of life of the person who suffers from it and of their relatives.
- This manic-depressive disorder presents the same symptoms as depression, that is, sadness, pessimism, disappointment, fatigue, guilt, or anxiety, but they are combined with other symptoms of mania, including euphoria, irritability, hyperactivity, or excessive vitality. For this reason, people who suffer from this manic-depressive illness or bipolar disorder take time to be diagnosed, since they are two totally contradictory states.
Treatment of manic depression
- If up to now we have been talking about all those resources that we can find to overcome depression on our own, about all those alternative therapies or natural medicines to recover emotional balance, in the case of bipolar disorder, we are going to be more drastic.
- The treatment for bipolar disorder or manic depression goes through the intake of medications. Medications, such as lithium, which will be exclusively recommended by medical professionals and will be accompanied by psychotherapy and, in some cases, electroconvulsive therapy.
- We want to highlight the importance of starting treatment under medical supervision as soon as possible because these cases of bipolar disorder present a serious risk of suicide and also of social exclusion. Bearing in mind that it is a chronic and possibly hereditary disease, the treatment will be aimed at avoiding the social isolation of the sick person and facilitating coexistence with their environment.