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Bipolar Disorder

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Bipolar Disorder
By: Nikki Dillenbeck
PY 231
Grand Rapids Community College

Everyone has ups and downs in their mood. Happiness, sadness, and anger are normal emotions and an essential part of everyday life. In contrast, Bipolar Disorder is a medical condition were their mood swings are more elaborate and out of proportion, and usually are not related to a certain situation. These mood swings their experiencing damages their normal functioning in everyday life. “People with bipolar disorder experience both the lows of depression and the highs of mania. Many describe their life as an emotional roller coaster, as they shift back and forth between extreme moods” (Comer, 2014, Page 197).
The mania part of this disorder includes moods that are very dramatic and out of control. The intensity of the mood of mania can result in damaging yourself physically or mentally, and damaging relationships with the ones closest to you. Usually people experience an episode of this mania. Which means that it doesn’t just last minutes or hours, it can last a week, a month, or even longer sometimes. In this episode you experience high self-esteem, not much sleep, racing thoughts, distractibility, and increased talkativeness.
There are two different types of bipolar disorder. Bipolar 1 disorder, and bipolar 2 disorder. Bipolar 1 is the full manic episodes, and major depressive episodes. Bipolar 2 has the mild manic episodes along with the major depressive episodes. Unlike the bipolar 1, the bipolar 2 has hypomanic episodes. People in a hypomanic episode have a sustained mood. The symptoms of hypomanic are: only need three hours of sleep, spends too much money, talks rapidly, and is cheerful. This is normal behavior which is why it would be considered hypomanic. Then you have a person in which their cheerfulness is out of control. Yelling out loud in the middle of mass, or

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