What Bipolar Disorder Really Is
Most people with bipolar disorder and their loved ones have usually been told that bipolar is a chemical imbalance of the brain or a mood disorder that can be characterized by extreme mood swings. What bipolar disorder is, though, is really so much more than that.
In truth, bipolar disorder is actually quite historical. It has roots that go as far back as the second century AD, when a man named Aretaeus first discovered that manic and depressive symptoms may be linked.
The disorder is not just mental, since it has to do with your mind, but is physiological as well, because it has to do with your body.
Bipolar disorder is often considered a neurological problem since it is associated with your brain, it can also be termed a chemical imbalance of the brain, which is a physical disorder, instead.
Believing that bipolar disorder has biological roots, scientists are currently studying genes they think may cause the disorder. If they find the specific gene or genes that are linked to the disorder, they will be steps away from a cure. Of course, there is great debate in the scientific community about the validity of this research, and there is quite a long way to go before a cure can be found.
Your doctor might tell you that the disorder has a medical element to it as well. When you are in a bipolar depressive episode, there is a greater risk of physical symptoms; such as: body aches, headaches, stomach aches, backaches, etc.
Also don’t be surprised if your psychiatrist stresses that bipolar disorder is a psychiatric illness. He or she probably used the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) to come to that diagnosis to begin with.
Many studies have shown, in fact, that bipolar disorder may be hereditary and will be passed down through the family.
Bipolar disorder is without a doubt an emotional disorder. As anyone who suffers with the disorder can say, your mood may swing uncontrollably from depression to mania and back again, and you have little to no control over those moods. This also causes emotional side effects such as stress, anxiety, and insomnia.
There is also a personal element to bipolar disorder, and to other mental illnesses, as well. There is such a stigma in our society toward disorders and the people who suffer with them, that many people will keep the truth of their disorder to themselves. They will not tell others they have it, and will keep their disorder a very personal thing.
Bipolar disorder is really much more than a chemical imbalance of the brain or just a mood disorder. It is both of these things and more.
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