The Study Of Physical Effects Of Bipolar Disorder  

The human emotional spectrum is a fragile space that is easily manipulated by the surrounding factors. The thoughts that are in a person's mind can sway their emotions from happy to sad easily depending on if the person is in a stressful time or an exciting time of their life. This swing is even further exaggerated when a person has a mental illness such as Bipolar.

Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that causes a person to experience extreme and possibly rapid mood swings or transitions between depressive phases which cause a person to get a lack of sleep or sleep too much, eat too much or too little they also feel hopeless or very sad and forget many tasks that they had to do. The person can feel so lonely that they may have suicidal thoughts or think about death. Then there are the manic phases in which a person may take risk that are greater than they would normally take, they feel that their thoughts are traveling very fast and they may also have more thoughts than normal. Along with fast though people may talk very fast about multiple different topics in a short time span. When a person's mind is moving at a fast pace the person may be unable fall asleep and when they do fall asleep they are usually restless. As stated by The Nation Institute for Mental Health “Bipolar “mood episodes” include unusual mood changes along with unusual sleep habits”. The unusual sleeping habits may also lead to other symptoms that can be attributed the manic or depressive phases. Each Phase has its own symptoms and attributes.

One of the phases a Bipolar person goes through is the Manic Phase which is a period of time where people are “extremely ‘up,’ elated, and energized behavior (known as manic episodes)” (Nation Institute for Mental Health 2016). The excess energy, and productivity is also associated with the person feeling jumpy or “wired”, Increased activity levels, easily agitated, the person is also prone to take greater risks than normal. The greater risk the person takes the more detrimental the outcome may be severe. The same thing can be said for the depressive phase where the person may feel Slow and sad. The risk run even greater than spending an excessive amount of money as stated by The U.S. National Library of Medicine “People with bipolar disorder often have repeated thoughts of death and suicide, and they have a much greater risk of dying by suicide than the general population.” This shows that Bipolar disorder can cause people to have clouded vision and feel alone and isolated from society. This isolation can lead someone to drug use and or alcoholism. The use of drugs around young children can then lead to the children being addicted. This could possibly alter the children's mind to trigger the Bipolar to show up more prominently.

Bipolar is a disorder that is caused partially by the environment and partially by a person’s genes. As stated by The Nation Institute for Mental Health “Very little is known for certain about the genetics of bipolar disorder. Studies suggest that variations in many genes, each with a small effect, may combine to increase the risk of developing the condition.” The genes can play a role in whether a person develops Bipolar. Another major factor to developing the Bipolar disorder is high stress environments or events. “Stressful events in a person's life, such as a death in the family, can trigger disease symptoms” (The Nation Institute for Mental Health 2016). The person in an extremely stressful environment or event as stated by the National Institute for Mental Health “Genetic variations on Chromosome 3 were significantly associated with both mood disorders. The suspect gene, called PBRM1, codes for a protein critical for chromatin remodeling, a key process in regulating gene expression” which shows that Bipolar is a disorder that is caused by a person's genes and surroundings which gives a family with the bipolar gene deficit have a higher chance of developing the disorder.

For Bipolar to develop the person has to have a “trigger” for the gene to be activated which can impact the frequency of the disease. However, the frequency in the world is low as shown by The U.S. National Library of Medicine “At some point during their lifetime, 2.4 percent of people worldwide” however this percentage increases when looking at the U.S.’s population as shown by The U.S. National Library of Medicine “4.4 percent of people in the United States are diagnosed with this condition” Although the large population these percentages are low and people diagnosed with Bipolar are not common on the spectrum of other mental disorders. Although rare, the disease is lifelong.

With lifelong diseases, some can shorten a person's lifespan by a few years or they may only be expected to live till an expected age. Similar to other diseases Bipolar can shorten a person's life span as shown by Thomas Insel “on average, Americans with major mental illness die 14 to 32 years earlier than the general population.” With most lifelong diseases there are no cures, however, there are treatments. As stated by The National Institute for Mental Health “treatment helps many people—even those with the most severe forms of bipolar disorder—gain better control of their mood swings and other bipolar symptoms.” These treatments help people with Bipolar control their moods and they help people in a relationship with the Bipolar person. With no cure, the average patient will go to therapies and take medication, as stated by The National Institute for Mental Health “An effective treatment plan usually includes a combination of medication and psychotherapy”. These therapies and medications help the patient live a more normal life with possible stable relationships and the ability to better control and manage their mood swings. The medications given to the person to help minimize the symptoms are Valproate or Valproic Acid and Lithium. These medications help stabilize a person’s mood swings and help minimize the manic and depressive symptoms during their respective phases. On the other hand, therapy help just as much as the medication in some cases. The therapy helps the person see how the disorder impacts their life and the people around them. With the knowledge of what the illness does to them and the people around them the patient can then use that information to control their mood swings and know when to seek help or when to take a break from the stress of the environment.

Bipolar is a disease that impact the person and everyone around them. This may include parents, friends, family or other peers. The illness has some interesting features that coincide with the disorder such as the symptoms can start showing from a person's late teenage years up until early to mid-twenties. However, Bipolar looks like other mental illnesses so when the first signs start to show patients may be diagnosed with other mental illnesses such as ADHD, ADD, Depression or Schizophrenia. A person may also need only 3-6 hours of sleep per night to function. These all lead and cause a person to show their signs of Bipolar.