Contents
Introduction
Often, if people are talking about someone with depression, they will say he or she has bipolar. Indeed, the two can often be confused with each other. Although both have to do with emotional stress, bipolar depression means the person has frequent mood changes that range between mania and depression. If you have depression, you experience feelings of despair and sadness that can interfere with your appetite and sleep and lead to extreme fatigue. You might well not be able to do your daily work properly.
If you do suffer from functional depression and anxiety, or clinical depression, it is not going to turn into bipolar. If you were previously diagnosed with depression but have been diagnosed with bipolar, it is not that your depression turned into bipolar. It is more that you had a wrong diagnosis before and that you did have a type of bipolar depression. Fortunately, different types of depression are treatable.
What Are The Symptoms Of Bipolar Depression?
Bipolar depression or disorder usually develops when someone is in their late adolescence or early adulthood. The main symptoms of depression are:
- Extreme moods – with functional depression and anxiety
- Emotional stress
- Extreme behaviors
- Experiencing episodes of extreme excitable moods and euphoria which are called manic episodes
- Extreme depression
- Hopeless moods – called a depressive episode
- Extreme irritability
- Very fast-talking
- Impulsive, risky behavior
- Less of interest in previously pleasurable activities
- Can’t concentrate
- Suicidal thoughts and behaviors
- In extreme cases, symptoms of delusions and hallucinations
Do You Get Different Types Of Bipolar?
Yes, you get a few types of bipolar disorder, and all involve episodes of mania and depression. Because bipolar is an illness that lasts for life, if you don’t get treatment, these episodes of mania and depression will occur again. Some people even continue to have symptoms even after treatment. Let’s look briefly at some types of bipolar disorders:
- Bipolar I – This one involves episodes of severe moods from depression to mania.
- Bipolar II – This disorder is milder than Bipolar I and involves milder episodes of hypomania that alternates with severe depressive episodes.
- Cyclothymic Disorder – It is about brief periods of cyclothymic symptoms with periods of depressive symptoms. These don’t last as long as what you see in full depressive or hypomanic episodes.
- Mixed Features – This is when symptoms occur simultaneously or opposite moods when the person experiences depression, hypomanic, or manic episodes, including sleeplessness, high energy, and racing thoughts. At the same time, these symptoms could also be despairing, hopeless, irritable, and suicidal.
- Rapid Cycling – This is when someone has four and more mood episodes in 12 months. These episodes should last for a minimum of a certain number of days to be classified as a definite episode.
- “Ultra-rapid” Cycling – This is another phenomenon. This bipolar type remains debatable; whether this feature is well-established enough in psychiatry. Some researchers believe that rapid cycling is more common later on in the life of the illness, with women appearing more likely than men to experience it. It remains a controversial topic, still under study.
Treatment For Bipolar Disorder And Symptoms Of Depression
The top priority, if you yourself or a loved one has depression or bipolar disorder, is to see a medical professional and get properly diagnosed. Then you can get a treatment plan in order. Proper treatment helps you to manage your mood swings and behaviors. Because depression and bipolar are lifelong illnesses, they need continuous treatment.
This will usually involve a combination of psychotherapy and medications. It will also depend on a person’s continual commitment to take their medications continually and constantly communicate honestly and openly with their treatment team.
A strong support system and making healthy lifestyle choices are also good treatments. With commitment, anyone with symptoms of depression or bipolar disorder will be able to lead a healthy and stable life.
Unfortunately, if depression and bipolar are left untreated, both major depression and bipolar disorder can impact your occupational and social functioning, and both include suicide risks. The good news is that they are treatable. Combination treatments work well in both depression and bipolar. Some possible interventions include:
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy – It is a type of psychotherapy that involves one-on-one with a health specialist
- Talk therapy – This allows the patients to talk about their struggles, while possibly finding a solution to their problems
- Family therapy – With involvement from the family members
- Medication management – This can include mood stabilizers and antidepressants. Look at Olly Goodbye Stress gummies to help rid yourself of the bad vibes
- Structured routines – Those who suffer from depression and bipolar disorder respond well to highly structured routines. This helps people to know what to expect and to follow through with their medication management independently
Conclusion
Are you aware of someone in your circle who is experiencing mood swings with recurring frequency? You’ve noticed periods of increased energy like they are on a “high” and then swing right down to the depths “lows” where they are depressed and melancholic.
Many people live with bipolar disorder and have never been properly diagnosed. Experts say around 5-6 million Americans suffer from this condition.
While healthy people experience changes in their moods in a day and over their lifetimes, those with manic depression have abrupt highs and lows, and you can tell that their quality of life is impaired. It affects how they live their lives and interact with others.
Manic depression needs treatment, and people need to educate themselves about early warning signs to get professional help. Even though it cannot be cured entirely, managing the symptoms can prevent these frequent mood swings, even suicidal and destructive behavior. Treatment has come such a long way today, and sufferers can receive the help that will improve their quality of life, stabilize their condition, and improve their recovery by being educated about the proper medical care they need, exercising, a healthy diet, and practicing meditation and doing yoga. Also taking herbs and supplements, like Olly Goodbye Stress, may effectively improve mood and reduce stress.
References
[1] https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/depression/what-is-depression
[2] https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/bipolar-disorders/what-are-bipolar-disorders
[3] https://www.verywellmind.com/can-depression-turn-into-bipolar-disorder-1066738
[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8833685/#:~:text=Affective%20oscillations%20spanned%20a%20range,ultra%20rapid%20or%20ultradian%20cycling
[5] https://www.healthline.com/health/bipolar-disorder#:~:text=Bipolar%20disorder%20isn’t%20a,many%20effective%20treatments%20are%20available