What is BI-Polar Depression?

Answer 1

All of the answers above are very good, in my opinion.

Depression typically refers to what one poster called unipolar depression. A person with depression has lived life with moods ranging along the bottom half of the mood spectrum, in the normal to depressed range.

Bipolar is when a person lives life with moods ranging along the entire mood spectrum, ranging from depression to normal to manic states.

If someone says they are now experiencing bipolar depression, it would mean that they have had manic experiences in the past but are currently in a depressive phase.

Bipolar depression may feel the same as unipolar depression but the physical cause of the depression is typically different and therefore, the medication used to treat bipolar depression is different.

Answer 2

Bipolar Disorder is a type of mood disorder which involves both depression and mania.

Most people with depression suffer from unipolar depression, or as it is most commonly called, simply "depression." In this case the person has normal mood for a period of time, alternating with other periods of low mood and then back to periods of normal mood.

In bipolar depression, the mood alternates between periods of normal mood, then a period of low mood then back to normal mood again, but there will also be times when the mood is high or manic.

Symptoms of mania include extreme irritability, reduced need for sleep, impulsive and irresponsible behaviours (such as gambling, spending money recklessly, taking drugs and alcohol in a binge fashion, sexual promiscuity), speaking at really fast rates, and delusions of grandeur.

Contrary to popular belief, most bipolar patients do not wildly swing from sad to high within minutes or hours. Usually there will be depressive episodes lasting weeks, then normal mood, then perhaps a few weeks of being manic.

Answer 3

You need to talk to a licensed psychologist to answer all your questions, but here are the basics, as given by the National Institute Of Mental Health. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/nimhhome/index.cfm

What Are the Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder?
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/bipolar.cfm#bp1

Bipolar disorder causes dramatic mood swings—from overly "high" and/or irritable to sad and hopeless, and then back again, often with periods of normal mood in between. Severe changes in energy and behavior go along with these changes in mood. The periods of highs and lows are called episodes of mania and depression.


Signs and symptoms of mania (or a manic episode) include:

* Increased energy, activity, and restlessness
* Excessively "high," overly good, euphoric mood
* Extreme irritability
* Racing thoughts and talking very fast, jumping from one idea to another
* Distractibility, can't concentrate well
* Little sleep needed
* Unrealistic beliefs in one's abilities and powers
* Poor judgment
* Spending sprees
* A lasting period of behavior that is different from usual
* Increased sexual drive
* Abuse of drugs, particularly cocaine, alcohol, and sleeping medications
* Provocative, intrusive, or aggressive behavior
* Denial that anything is wrong

A manic episode is diagnosed if elevated mood occurs with three or more of the other symptoms most of the day, nearly every day, for 1 week or longer. If the mood is irritable, four additional symptoms must be present.


Signs and symptoms of depression (or a depressive episode) include:

* Lasting sad, anxious, or empty mood
* Feelings of hopelessness or pessimism
* Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness
* Loss of interest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed, including sex
* Decreased energy, a feeling of fatigue or of being "slowed down"
* Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions
* Restlessness or irritability
* Sleeping too much, or can't sleep
* Change in appetite and/or unintended weight loss or gain
* Chronic pain or other persistent bodily symptoms that are not caused by physical illness or injury
* Thoughts of death or suicide, or suicide attempts

A depressive episode is diagnosed if five or more of these symptoms last most of the day, nearly every day, for a period of 2 weeks or longer.

Answer 4

My opinion is.....It is a dis ease that comes from the mixtures of dysfunctional faith in unproven circumstance that allows for prejudiced thinking about mythological consequences mixed with....hypertension in everyday life. So basically a bi polar person cannot discern truth about life while they hang on to the dysfunctional faith and myth they were taught. Sooner or later their brain starts doing loop thought about judgement to the extent that the looping merges with their inability to find truth. Feelings are amplified in this circumstance including that of depression. The person becomes an actor for the myths they have been taught. Sad really, but curable.

Answer 5

A mental illness that causes people to have mood swings. They have depressed episodes in which they feel low, sleep a lot, have no motivation, etc. They also have manic episodes where they have tons of energy, don't sleep, feel on top of the world, excessive spending, careless sex, etc.

Answer 6

A more aggresive form of mood swings!!! A cycle of depressed one minute and manic high the next.....It is a disease and there is nothing to be ashamed of.

Answer 7

http://www.mcmanweb.com/article-221.htm

That's a wonderful article on it. Good luck!

Answer 8

usually... extreme highs and extreme lows....

Answer 9

your mad,then happy, then sad