How do you get bipolar disorder? Bipolar is a depressive disorder that affects the brain and causes uncontrollable mood swings from depression to manic episodes. Bipolar disorder affects men, women, and children and can begin at any age, but is most common in teenagers and young adults. It is less common in people above the age of 40, and if symptoms of the illness develop much later in life, they are more likely to be as a result of a brain disorder such as dementia. Around 1% of the adult population are affected by bipolar.
How do you get bipolar and what are the symptoms?
Bipolar disorder causes unpredictable mood swings and the person will flip from black depression to mania, sometimes with no normality in between. Some people suffer one episode of the illness and are then perfectly well for a number of years, but others experience repeated episodes of bipolar disorder symptoms and it severely disrupts their life.
How do you get bipolar disorder and who is most at risk?
Contrary to what some people think, it is not possible to become bipolar just because you are going through a bad time and are feeling a bit down in the dumps as a result. Unlike a temporary state of depression, bipolar disorder is an actual mental health illness, just like schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder, and as such, it requires specialist treatment. Although there is no cure for bipolar disorder, with the right treatment, symptoms of the illness can be kept under control and the person can live a normal life.
How do you get bipolar disorder and what causes it?
Bipolar disorder is thought to be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain and for some people this is a purely random occurrence. However, there is also a genetic component to the disease and bipolar disorder can run in families. If a family member has been diagnosed with bipolar, you have a greater risk of developing the illness. If a parent has bipolar, you are more at risk, and if both parents are bipolar, you are extremely likely to develop the symptoms of bipolar at some point in your life.
Although genetics play a major role in whether you are likely to suffer from bipolar, there are also other factors at play. Research has indicated that exposure to extreme trauma or abuse in early childhood can sometimes lead to the development of bipolar disorder in later life, as well as other serious mental health disorders.
There is also some suggestion that a growing fetus can be adversely affected by its mother’s emotional state and poor nutrition while still in the womb, causing the child to show the symptoms of bipolar at a later date. In some cases, bipolar symptoms can also develop as a result of a physical illness.
Stress is known to be a major factor in the development of bipolar disorder, and if you are predisposed towards the illness because of hereditary factors or a dysfunctional childhood, a bout of severe stress can be enough to trigger an occurrence of the illness.
Recent Comments