Psychological disorders and how they affect every day life - Essay Example

Bipolar disorder mainly affects those in the adult stage of life and it lasts a lifetime and very few cases of Bipolar disorder have been reported in childhood. Bipolar disorders are characterized by extreme mood changes that cause patients to exhibit inconsistent moods and feelings. The condition, if not well managed, can be a cause for stress and agony for both the victim and the family members who are affected indirectly or directly by the sharp mood fluctuations of their loved ones as a result of the Bipolar disorder.

While the manic state leads to dangerous behavior, the depressive state for Bipolar disorder can result into suicide. This paper further looks at incidences of misdiagnosis, as well as the available treatments for the Bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorders are manifested in various forms such as suffering from mania state as well as depressions state which interrupts the patient's normal way of life such as sleeping, eating, studies for students, as well as many other parts of life such as relationship in marriage given that such mood swings affects how couples, partners and spouses communicate with one another (Soares, & Mann, 1997.26-76). The seriousness of the Bipolar disorder is such that it can result into a sense of hyperactivity in an individual whereby a patient, full of energy gets easily excited and energized to such high levels that they may get involved in uncontrollable behavior (American Psychiatric Association, 1994).

The fact that Bipolar disorder is hard to predict, control due to sudden mood changes makes its diagnosis a hard task, something that has resulted into misdiagnosis in the past (American Psychiatric Association, 1994.43-59). Bipolar disorder is known to be caused by a wide range of factors all tied to genetics or environment and are linked to the brain (Soares, & Mann, 1997.54-74). Soares, and Mann, (1997.61-74) further notes that, biological factors such as imbalance of neurotransmitters, triggers such as; unexpected or major life events are possible causes of Bipolar disorder although research in this area is ongoing and new evidence can come up in the next few years.

The Bipolar disorder consists of the following episodes according to (Hyman, & Rudorfer, 2000.78-125) - depression, mania, hypomania as well as mixed moods. Depression mood episode refers to a situation whereby the Bipolar disorder patient experiences long durations of sadness, laziness that makes the bipolar patient to experience unusually difficulties in waking up and/or taking meals. Mania mood episode results into hyperactivity characterized by risky behavior which can cause harm to those around the patient.

Hypomania mood episode exhibits symptoms similar to those of mania, although Hypomania symptoms are less severe. Hypomania is characterized by false 'good' feeling although this can sometimes degenerate into other mood episodes such as depression and mania, which can lead the patient into engaging in the risky behavior characteristic to mania episodes. Mixed mood episode is the condition whereby, the patient experiences symptoms of mania and depression in a single day, something which means that the bipolar patient can be overwhelmed by the mood changes.

In addition, Bipolar disorder is a condition that lasts a whole life time and therefore the better it is managed, the more the quality of life a patient is exposed to. Also proper medication are preferred and recommended