The psychologist Sergio García Soriano offers us a new information sheet on the Alphabet of Psychology with the term “Bipolar”, chosen to represent the letter B in this project
Bipolar
Bipolar disorder is not a new disorder, in previous decades it was called manic depression, manic-depressive disorder or cyclothymia. It would be encompassed within the disorders of the state of mind.
In the United States, according to statistics, there are 17 million adults (it occurs in both men and women) who suffer from a mood disorder each year. This means that one person in seven will suffer from it at some point in their life, so it is likely that you have friends or acquaintances with this condition.
In bipolar disorder, the person will have episodes of mania or “ups” and episodes of depression or “downs”, not being episodes of happiness or sadness motivated by logical reasons, but they are due to a dynamic of the disorder, not of the experience lived by the person.
When we talk about mania or highs we are referring to that they speak very quickly, they are noticed with greater energy, they sleep less than usual and they are very optimistic about the future, they do more sport very quickly, they irritate them to a greater extent situations that were previously tolerated by them and increases their impatience and recklessness. Associated with great difficulty concentrating.
And when we talk about symptoms of depression, we mean that interest in habitual activities is lost, there is high fatigue and sadness for a long time, it is thought that there is a lack of personal or professional worth, appetite is lost and is diminished the ability to experience pleasure by increasing thoughts related to ideas of disappearing or autolytic.
People with bipolar disorder can and should be treated, the psychologist should make the diagnosis. Therefore, the mental health professional must observe the behavior carefully so as not to confuse it with ADHD, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress, etc.
In these people, their perception of reality is altered. And the affects do not correspond to the surrounding reality, there is a very striking intensification of the emotions.
A treatment plan will be needed to find out what has happened in the person’s mind to alter the sensations in the person’s mood.
