Bipolar Disorder - A Psychiatric Perspective

Bipolar disorder, or manic depression, is a serious mental illness that has remained a mystery for decades.  Bipolar disorder has been around probably just as long as man has; and for many years bipolar disorder patients were diagnosed as psychotic or schizophrenic.  This all changed for the better two decades ago with a diagnosis called “manic depression”; and though closer to today’s modern day understanding of the condition; psychiatric specialists at the time still did not fully understand the illness.

In recent years, more psychiatric evidence has shed light on bipolar disorder, as it is now called; and have pinpointed the problem - a chemical imbalance in the brain.  Recently, psychiatric specialists and researchers have also determined that bipolar disorder actually has varying degrees of severity and different types of symptoms.

It has long been suggested that bipolar disorder runs in families and is hereditary; but researchers back then did not have enough evidence to support their theory.  Today however continuing study and research of the functions of the brain have helped researchers prove how this illness is both hereditary and biological.

According to research posted in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2000, patients with bipolar disorder actually have thirty percent more brain cells of a certain class that have to do with sending signals within the brain.  This type of brain cell regulates moods, how someone responds to stress, and cognitive functions.  The extra brain cells directly cause the mania or depression.  It is not yet known by psychiatric researchers, however, why patients with bipolar disorder have these additional brain cells; and genetic research continues today to determine what causest this brain cell abnormality.

Further to brain cells and brain chemistry, psychiatric researchers speculate that various genes in the genetic makeup of bipolar patients can also contribute to the cause of and hereditary nature of bipolar disorder.  Recent research results suggest that circadian genes, which regulate mood, hormones, blood pressure, and heart activity may be linked to bipolar disorder.  In particular, the absence or abnormality of the gene actually seems to bring about mania episodes.

In conclusion, more research needs to be done.  There is still so much more to be discovered about the human brain and the forces, chemicals, reactions and interactions that regular emotion; and become remiss and cause bipolar disorder.

Roy Sencio is a Registered Nurse, Marketing Communications Specialist and Internet Entrepreneur who enjoys writing as a hobby. http://www.tellmemoreabout.com/bipolardisorder

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