Bipolar Depression
December 3, 2009 by admin
Bipolar depression is just what the name implies. It’s a disorder that involves major swings in mood. One day you may be happy and ready to take on the world, and the next day feeling as if you don’t even want to get out of bed. It’s a very difficult disorder which is confusing and fatiguing. The mood swings can even happen in the space of a single day. If you’ve ever had one of those days where you went from feeling happy and successful to feeling like a failure, then you have an idea of what it’s like to have bipolar depression. But imagine the swings happening regularly in your life – maybe even every day.
Bipolar depression is about a lot more than moods though. The highs and lows can be very extreme. In fact, people with bipolar depression have often have euphoric highs which lead them to act irrationally. While feeling euphoria, the person may believe they are invincible. For example, a bipolar person may think they can’t lose at the casino and gamble all the household money. Or the person may decide to go shopping and buys everything in sight without regard to fiscal responsibility.
It’s not too difficult to imagine how a person with bipolar depression can bring about devastation for a family. On the opposite end of the euphoric state is the depressed state. The state of depression can follow quickly and is especially low because of the memory of the short lived euphoria. You go from top of the world to not wanting to even get out of bed. Of course, not everyone has such extreme swings, but even lesser states of euphoria and depression can be difficult and confusing.
When someone is bipolar and holds a job, it’s not hard to imagine the potential consequences. Rash decisions made during the high period can be very harmful to the job. Some people with bipolar depression get hyperactive and think they can do anything whether or not they’re qualified.
Bipolar depression can be brought on by substance abuse. Drug users are commonly diagnosed with bipolar depression and studies are researching whether the propensity for drug use and the manic or bipolar depression are related. Once you are diagnosed with bipolar depression, it will most likely have to be managed the rest of your life. Even children can develop bipolar depression though it’s frequently misdiagnosed as hyperactivity or attention deficit disorder.
Bipolar depression is a complicated medical issue but treatment works well. Treatment usually includes medication to even out the moods and psychotherapy to teach the person how to be aware of the onset of the mood swings. As researchers continue to study the problem, it’s fully expected that new treatments will be developed.
Panic Related Disorders
February 9, 2009 by admin
Almost everyone will experience some sort of stress and period when they feel anxious. These periods of stress and anxiety is usually caused by a trigger that can be identified. The panic disorders are slightly different and these can be distinguished by the fact that they actually seem to happen for no apparent reason and therefore most of the time they happen very un-expectantly. Some people joke that they have had a panic attack however people that suffer from panic attacks will definitely know when they have had one as they can sometimes be very severe. The panic attacks can last any length of time ranging from a minute to even several hours.
It is very important to understand that anxiety is a very normal reaction to what people physically see or what they feel a threat from. In normal occasions of anxiety the anxiety will disappear when the threat disappears and the cause is no longer a worry. In the situation of the panic disorders there is no real cause that affects the person and therefore there is nothing that can be eliminated in order to ease the stress. This also means that the panic can occur when it is least expected and there is no way in, which it can be resolved.
There are a lot of physical symptoms that can be defined as a panic attack. Some people may have trouble breathing or they may feel there heart starting to race uncontrollably. Some people may start sweating, feeling dizzy, feeling sick or some people may even experience chest pains. In a lot of the occasions of panic attacks they suffer may feel like they are being smothered. The panic disorders are often diagnosed once someone hs suffered the symptoms more than a couple of times as this will make you worry more that the attack is going to actually happen again.
The disorders that are caused by panicking are very often not caused by any specific activity or thing. It is on these occasions that people often use the terminology in completely the wrong context. Some people suffer from a fear of driving on motorways and they tend to panic in anticipation of having to do so, in these cases you are probably suffering from a phobia or an anxiety disorder. The panic disorders happen for no apparent reason or event and the true panic disorders are not due to medication, events or physical illness. These are very difficult to treat, as there is no known feature that can be removed in order to eliminate the panic disorder.
The panic disorders often display no regular symptoms either. There are some people that suffer from panic attacks once a year however there are other people that suffer from panic attacks on a weekly basis. The worst thing that people can do is to avoid dealing with things, as they are worried about having another panic attack. It is a good idea to have get some advice and guidance from a doctor in order to be able to rule out physical reasons of why you may experience a racing heart or shortness of breath. If the doctor gives you a clean bill of health then you will know that the chances that it is probably caused by panic attacks.
There is a vast range of treatments that can be used for panic disorders. These treatments include learning to relax, learning how to control your physical reactions and learning how to control your though process. Once you have learnt how to take control of your mind and your body it is possible to learn how to cope with the panic attacks in such a way so that you are not frightened or experiencing any sort of trauma. There are some people that are able to use a combination of counselling, exercise and a high level of awareness to eliminate the attacks that are caused by panicking. Some of the panic disorders are not actually related to any specific cause or event so it is therefore very important to learn how to cope with anxiety as soon as it starts as it is not possible to judge when it is going to happen.



