Bipolar disorder is a mental condition characterized by extreme mood swings
Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is a mental condition characterized by extreme mood swings such as emotional lows (depression) and emotional highs (mania). When people with bipolar become depressed, they feel hopeless, sad, and they lose interest in most activities. But when their moods shift to mania, they can become unusually irritable, full of energy, and euphoric. The mood swings affect their ability to think clearly, and they also affect their behaviour, their sleep patterns, their judgment, etc. Even though bipolar is a mental condition that people can have all their life, their mood swings and related symptoms can be managed by sticking to a treatment plan.
The video Portrait of Bipolar Disorder in the case study effectively captures how this mental condition affects a person’s life. In the video, Emilie explains her lows and down. As she explains, she was 18 years old when she had a full manic attack: she dropped out of school and got married against the wishes of her parents. Emilie only makes “snap decisions”, and she does not think things through. When she goes into her manic attacks, she feels like she has the best ideas in the world. When she gets depressed, she feels worthless, hopeless, sad, and she questions her abilities.
References