Bipolar A Mental Illness - 1692 Words

One of my closest friends during my undergraduate career has a mental illness called bipolar. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, bipolar is defined as a chronic mental illness that causes a range of different shifts in mood, energy, activity occurrence, and the ability to function and carry out the day to day tasks (National Institute of Mental Health, 2016). Bipolar disorder is also known as a manic depressive illness due to the shifts in mood. People with bipolar often experience lows and highs. Research substantiates that there is no clear cause for bipolar, but there are many factors that contribute to the likelihood of a person developing bipolar. People with bipolar often experience mood episodes. Furthermore,†¦show more content†¦Bipolar disorder affects nearly 5.7 million adults each year, which is about 2.6% of the United States population (Doheny, 2015). Bipolar tends to occur in people during adolescence and early adulthood. There are fou r different types of bipolar disorder. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the four different types of bipolar are bipolar I disorder, bipolar II disorder, bipolar disorder not otherwise specified, and lastly cyclothymic disorder (National Institute of Mental Health, 2016). The DSM-5 goes in detail describing each of the different types of bipolar disorders. The recurrence of bipolar can lead to substance abuse, bad job performance, poor school performance, attempted suicide, family and relationship problems, as well as subsyndromal symptoms between the varies episodes that tend to occur (Lam, 2010). There are a severity of problems that people with bipolar can face, but bipolar is treatable. Bipolar is often stabilized by medication (Lam, 2010). Interview with Mrs. Y (My friend name would be kept confidential) Being diagnosed was very scary. My parents and I didn t know what was going on with me, and when I was first diagnosed my parents sought out specialist after specialist to make sure they ruled every other possibility out before they accepted I had bipolar disorder. I was diagnosed with bipolar at the age of 16. It wasn t until I was 18 that I finally got the healthcare I needed. Before I was diagnosed I didn t think