Manic-depressive Illness A Brain Disorder Essay Example

people. The symptoms of bipolar may either be emotional, behavioral, somatic, or cognitive.

I) Emotional Symptoms

The emotional symptoms of bipolar disorder assist in recognizing if an individual is suffering from the condition. They can as well aid in understanding what part of a cycle a person is experiencing. The emotional symptoms coupled with manic phase patients consist of agitation, euphoria, feelings of invincibility, and ongoing happiness despite situations (Sommers, 2000). Emotional symptoms related with depressive phases comprise of worry, sorrow, irritability, disinterest, and feeling of emptiness.

II) Behavioral Symptoms

The behavioral symptoms may also help in identifying what stage a person is experiencing. The behavioral symptoms of linked to manic episode consist of talking very fast, being overly restless, being easily distracted, behaving impulsively besides involving in pleasurable high-risk behaviors (Peacock, 2000). Behavioral symptoms connected to depressive episode include feeling tired, being restless, thinking of death or suicide, change of habits such as eating and sleeping, and having problems in concentrating and making decisions.

III) Somatic Symptoms

A person experiencing bipolar disorder has somatic symptoms characterized by shakiness, dizziness, fatigue, dry mouth, sweating, muscle aches, cold and clammy hands, and racing heart. Somatic symptoms assists psychologists to better know what stage of the disorder the person is experiencing at the moment before treatment or counseling (Durand & Barlow, 2006).

IV) Cognitive Symptoms

People having cognitive symptoms of bipolar experience decreased cognitive capacity about the time before any sustained bipolar disorder signs. The major symptoms that reveal that an individual is suffering from this disorder are a cognitive impairment that results in difficulties in linguistic working memory, prioritizing and organizing of behavior, and difficulties in planning (Peacock, 2000). Other symptoms include problems with

preservation of what has been listened to or read and the experience of gently slowed thinking processes.

Causes of Bipolar Disorder

The real cause of bipolar disorder has not yet being established, but experts believe that some factors work together to make a person develop the condition. These factors may either be biological, psychological or social causes.

Biological Causes of Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is mainly termed as a biological disorder when it happens in a particular part of the brain and is due to the dysfunction of certain chemical messengers or neurotransmitters in the brain. These chemicals may comprise neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. Serotonin is among the neurotransmitters in the human brain that powerfully affects an individual’s mood. It is considered that anomalous serotonin chemistry results to mood swings since its response effect on other brain chemicals. Dopamine is usually connected with the pleasure system of the human brain (Macneil, 2009). The brain chemical serotonin is linked to numerous body functions like sleep, eating, wakefulness, sexual activity, impulsivity, and memory. It is believed that anomalous functioning of brain circuits that comprise serotonin as a chemical messenger contributes to mood disorders. An individual’s genes influence the probability of them having bipolar disorder. Plasticity genes or changeable genes permit people to respond more directly to environmental experience, to mold themselves to their surrounding and potential future environments based on experience. The serotonin transporter gene length has been largely investigated in connection with mood as well as anxiety disorders (Durand & Barlow, 2006). The SERT gene is coupled with the augmented risk of depression in the face of life stresses which is replicated in bipolar disorder.

Psychological Causes of

Bipolar Disorder

Emotion anomalies represent a major functional disturbance in bipolar disorder an illness epitomized by impairment in psychological functioning. Emotion processing depicts people’s capacity to perceive and process emotion from the surrounding. Emotive entities comprise a wide diversity of stimuli including that from psychologically charged words as well as a picture that permit individual’s to decode and comprehend the social world. The disorder is complex and is, therefore, probable to be underpinned by numerous psychological methods. Emotion regulation is an umbrella term for numerous capacities that permit people to initiate, restrain or adjust internal, behaviors, and psychological reactions in reply to emotion-inducing surrounding stimuli (Van Rheenen & Rossell, 2013). Emotional expressions are a momentous component of nonverbal communication that allows rapid inferences about the psychological state of the communicator. Emotion regulation is profoundly dependent on social perspective as well as is a vital influence on intrinsic cognitive methods comprising flexibility, social interaction, and decision making. The capacities to retain, remember, and recognize information as well as experiences is known as memory. The memory supports the achievement of knowledge and skills by assisting the storage of visual besides verbal environmental inputs that add to learning. Verbal memory and learning capacity is linked to emotion recognition in disorders with same emotion perception anomalies to those seen in bipolar disorders (Van Rheenen & Rossell, 2013).

Social Causes of Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder can be best comprehended as a family of connected disorders that share core characteristics of mood, impulsivity, predisposition to other psychiatric conditions, and propensity toward substance abuse. Regarding gender roles, bipolar disorder develops in men and women in about equal numbers. The only differences in gender are the

way the illness manifests itself in both men and women. Women with the disorder tend to have more depressive as well as fewer manic episodes than men. The typical bipolar woman begins with a depressive episode whereas a man usually gets a manic episode (Macneil, 2009). Poverty leads to bipolar disorder since many people lack the basic things to support themselves in life. Poverty causes bipolar disorder as a result of depression that makes people feel that they cannot grasp reality. Poor and homeless people have the incapability to complete duties such as school among others. Hence, they are always battling with their emotions

Treatment of Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar treatment entails a combination of at least one mood stabilizing drug and psychotherapy. Bipolar disorder follows the following medications; cognitive-behavioral, group, and centered therapies.

I) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

In cognitive behavioral therapy, an individual is examined on how his or her thinking affects his or her emotions. CBT is a kind of psychotherapy that can be used to manage bipolar disorder. They also learn how to change negative thinking patterns as well as behaviors into more positive ways of responding. Psychotherapy comprises of either one on one interaction with a therapist or a group of sessions that involve the therapist and several people with same issues (Bascos & Rush, 2007). The therapists aid patients get a handle on their thoughts and behaviors besides finding a way to deal with their issues.

II) Group Therapy

Group therapy offers a very diverse experience for bipolar disorder patients. Those patients with egotistic tendencies feel that they justify being the center of attention for the entire session. In group therapy, patients benefit from interaction with

others and the therapist. The patients also benefit from their support, wisdom, understanding, feedback, and nonjudgment. Group is exclusive in that it is a microcosm of the patient’s life in the real (Basco & Rush, 2007). Being in a group therapy with other bipolar sufferer’s offers patients the chance to discuss things that are fairly unique to person’s with their disorder. The healing process begins as the patients get used to the group.

III) Centered Therapy

This is a humanistic loom that deals with the methods in which persons identify themselves consciously other than how a counselor can construe their unconscious notions. The psychotherapist in this approach works to comprehend the patients experience from their point of view. This therapy regards that human nature positively and assumes every individual can solve his or her problem using his or her innate wisdom (Basco & Rush, 2007). In this therapy, patients are believed to solve their bipolar disorder using their innate wisdom without consulting other people.

Conclusion

Bipolar disorder is a long-term illness that has far reaching, frequently devastating, outcomes to both individuals distressed by the illness as well as caregivers. Nonetheless, with augmented research on treatment of how the burdens of patient and caregiver can be lessened through psychological sustain and advances in the customer and advocacy association hence reducing the burden.

References

1. Peacock, J. (2000). Bipolar disorder. Minnetonka, MN: Life Matters. Sommers, M. (2000). Everything you need to know about bipolar disorder and manic depressive illness. New York: Rosen Pub. Group.
2. Macneil, C. A. (2009). Bipolar disorder in young people: A psychological intervention manual. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (BSP)
3. Durand, V., & Barlow, D. (2006). Essentials of abnormal psychology.
   

Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. (PSD)