Bill, thank you for the example. That is pretty much how I understood Bi-polar. I am really wondering how it is diagnosed.....does it fit a precise set of parameters or is it more of a long term observation? What are the treatments and how effective are the treatments? I have wondered about this for years.
Thanks Dieselram...you had to ask about the most complicated to explain disorder in the DSM. I appreciate it.
Everything spiritrelic said is correct or close to correct. Hold on to your hats again. Crispin's crash course to bipolar:
There are two types of bipolar. Bipolar type I and bipolar type II. For simplicity let us ignore bipolar type II. Go get yourself a piece of paper and draw a horizontal line across the page. On the left side label it depression. On the far right side label it mania. Half way the line make a hash mark and call it "normal." There is no such thing as normal but lets just use this as an average. Take each half of the line and halve it again (quarters on the whole line) and then divide them in half again (eighths on the whole line.) What you are looking at is the spectrum of emotions ranging from severe depression to severe mania. We all know what depression is. Mania is the exact opposite. Mania is what makes the bipolar I diagnosis. I will explain this in a bit.
Look at your line again. If you were to start at the "normal" point and go two notches to the left and two notches to the right then you would be looking at the "normal" spectrum of human emotion. People who do not have a mood disorder can have their mood fall anywhere in that range on any given day. If you meet an attractive girl and get her phone number then you will be way over on the right side. If your dog dies...way over on the left. Again, these are NORMAL emotions. They are not a disorder and do not need medication.
Look at your line again and go all the way to the last hash mark on the left. When people get to this point they are experiencing a Major Depressive Episode or a Major Depressive Episode associated with bipolar. Take your pencil and write the letters PONR underneath it. (I made this example up.) PONR stands for the point of no return. Treasure Hunter will tell us all what that means in military terms. However, I'm not talking about gas. I'm talking about chemicals in the brain. To the left of PONR is a GENETIC, CHEMICAL imbalance. Nobody, and I mean nobody, can cross back over that line without the help of medications or suffering through months and months of misery. This is a major depressive episode. You can find the symptoms in the DSM-IV-R.
Look at your line again and start going to the right. When you get to the last hash mark write the letters PONR below it. You guessed it. This is GENETIC, NEUROCHEMICAL mania and the very essence of bipolar. People with this disorder develop decreased need for sleep (less then a hour a night,) increased energy, rapid speech, flight of ideas, hypersexuality, increased spending, euphoria, and grandiosity. These people have dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine and several other neurotransmitters being pumped into their neural synapses at such a fast rate that it makes them psychotic. I have hundreds and hundreds of stories about these people. You do not see these people in society that much because they get hospitalized or arrested very quickly.
DieselRam: A lot of people and doctors confuse bipolar with borderline personality disorder. Borderline PD is not an appropriate discussion for an open forum; however, there is a HUGE difference. Night and day, black and white, fire and ice...pro and anti gun.
Sincerely,
Crispin
