Bipolar disorder
Overview
Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition where you have extreme mood changes. Medicines and talking therapy can help manage it.
Symptoms
The main symptom of bipolar disorder is extreme changes to your mood. You sometimes have either: high moods (mania or hypomania) – for example, feeling very happy, excited or energeticlow moods (depression) – for example, feeling sad, tired or hopeless These moods usually last a few days or weeks at a time. If you have bipolar disorder, you will usually have times where your mood is stable and you do not have any symptoms. This can last for weeks, months or years. High moods in bipolar disorder can be severe (called mania) or mild (called hypomania). Symptoms of high mood include: feeling very happy and excited feeling very irritable or aggressive having a lot of energy, feeling restless or not needing much sleep racing thoughts or not being able to concentrate speaking fast or talking a lot – you may not make sense to other people a high sex drive (libido) feeling overly confident or adventurous being impulsive or extravagant such as spending lots of money saying or doing things that are rude, inappropriate or not usual for you hearing things that are not real (hallucinations), believing things that are not true (delusions) or feeling paranoid Symptoms of low mood in bipolar disorder include: feeling sad or upset not being interested in things you usually enjoy low energy or feeling very tired difficulty sleeping or sleeping a lot eating too much or too little low confidence feeling worthless or hopeless not being able to concentrate avoiding seeing or spending time with other people having suicidal thoughts or thoughts about harming yourself
Causes
It's not known exactly what causes bipolar disorder. You're more likely to have it if you have a parent, brother or sister who has bipolar disorder. There are some things that can increase your chances of having it, including: childhood trauma or abusea stressful event such as relationship problems, abuse, the death of someone close to you or money problemsrecreational drugs such as cannabis or cocainea parasite called toxoplasma gondii (which causestoxoplasmosis)
Treatment
Bipolar disorder cannot be cured, but there are treatments that can help manage it. A mental health specialist will work with you to create a treatment plan. Treatments you may have include: medicines to help stabilise your moodstalking therapy such ascognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) Some medicines you need to take all the time, others you only take when your symptoms get worse. The medicines can cause side effects. These will vary depending on which medicine you take and how your body responds to it. You'll usually have appointments at a GP surgery, clinic or hospital. If doctors are worried you're at risk ofself-harm,suicideor harming someone else, you may need to stay in hospital or have support from a crisis team at home. Do not stop taking your bipolar disorder medicine unless you are told to by a doctor, even if you feel better. Some medicines for bipolar disorder are not safe to take if you are pregnant. Talk to your doctor if you are pregnant or planning a pregnancy.
Prevention
Cannot prevent onset. Prevent episodes: take medications consistently; monitor warning signs; avoid triggers; maintain consistent routines; involve support network; psychoeducation.
When to see a doctor
Support is available if you or someone you know is having a mental health crisis or emergency, no matter what you're going through. Find out where to get urgent help for mental health