Defining Bipolar Depression

Understand Bipolar Depression, its symptoms, causes and treatments and how to discover its signs early on

Bipolar Depression

There are more instances of depression in the world than anyone can truly know. Since so many cases go undiagnosed and unattended, there are also more deaths associated with suicide that can be directly linked to depression in its many forms.

The public must educate itself about depression and how to spot it, understand it, and deal with bipolar depression head-on.

What is Bipolar Depression?

What is Bipolar Depression

The first step to dealing with any disease is understanding what it truly is and what it entails. Depression is a strange thing, and plenty of different facets make it supremely difficult to understand.

Bipolar depression, unlike clinical depression, is not just being sad. Someone who suffers from bipolar depression is often called bipolar. It can have episodes of great sadness, madness, and even happiness that make it hard to deal with.

Bipolar depression is considered a mood disorder, and as such, it can affect your mood in any way, not just in terms of being sad or depressed. In most bipolar disorder or depression cases, the person diagnosed will experience highs and lows that they are not prepared for and cannot explain, making this a very dangerous disease to have.

Unfortunately, there are currently no cures for the disorder. Still, there are drugs in the works that can help balance the chemicals in the brain and help those who suffer from the disorder deal with it and get better to live their lives as normally as possible.

Signs of Bipolar Depression/Disorder

There are a few different signs that you should look for if you or someone you know thinks that bipolar depression may be an issue. There are ten signs overall and knowing a bit about each is the best way to catch bipolar depression before it is too late.

Up and Down Moods

Extreme ups and downs characterize this type of disorder. Much like with a traditional diagnosis of depression, this symptom of bipolar depression is something that Who cannot avoid. In most cases, someone diagnosed with bipolar depression is far more likely to experience more severe lows than highs and good feelings.

Though there is no real bipolar depression definition to work from, this is the first step in finding out there is a problem. In most cases, a person with typical brain chemistry will experience highs and lows but not nearly as intensely or frequently as someone with bipolar depression.

Inability to Complete Tasks

Those who suffer from bipolar depression are likely to have trouble focusing energy on completing tasks at hand. Though they may have the ability to complete the tasks they are assigned, they are likely to have trouble keeping tasks straight and keeping them in order.

This has to do with the chemistry of someone that suffers from bipolar depression symptoms. This can range from something that makes it nearly impossible to complete tasks at all to the inability to complete them promptly.

Depression

This is the most obvious sign of someone who needs bipolar depression medication. When someone is in a bipolar depressive state, they may be tired, lethargic, have a poor appetite, lack focus, and lack enthusiasm.

These can be aggravated and increased by using alcohol or drugs and can even end in the death of the person affected. This is a dangerous state to deal with, and not knowing if it is a simple bad day or something more can make a huge difference.

Irritability

Those that suffer from this disease are also very likely to have a shorter fuse than you may be used to. This is again due to the chemistry in the brain, and it can come and go. However, in most cases, this irritability is far worse than just not being happy and getting snappy with others.

It can quickly escalate to violence and being irritable because they do not want to talk to other people at all. Those that are bipolar depressive may also have a short fuse and can often be set off by just about anything.

Rapid Speech

Someone that is bipolar depressive may also talk more or faster than others and may tend to overtalk. This is a common symptom and can often cause a great issue.

In most cases, the person with bipolar depression will talk over others and talk louder than others to keep the attention on them. This is a way of coping with the feelings they are having and can again be mildly attributed to the brain’s chemistry.

Trouble at Work

This is a huge indicator and can even end in the person not keeping their job, being dismissed, and having trouble with the people they work with. This is not something to be taken lightly and is far deeper seeded than just not being able to work with others.

This can often lead to issues with coworkers and push the bipolar depressive even further into a depression to cope with what is happening and deal with what is going on.

Alcohol or Drug Abuse

This is a very common sign of depression. In many cases, manic or bipolar depressive patients will work to push their feelings down by drinking alcohol or taking drugs, prescription and non-prescription, to avoid reality and step away from reality and the problems that they have. But unfortunately, this is also a way for them to forget that they are depressed and experience a temporary high that alcohol and drugs offer when used.

Erratic Behavior

This is another easy-to-spot indicator. Those who are bipolar depressive may act one way and then quickly change without warning. In most cases, they will do things that they would never have done before without even thinking of the consequences. This is a dangerous side effect and can often lead to death and suicide.

This side effect affects most bipolar depressives and should be closely monitored. If you find that someone you know or love starts acting erratically, you should take the time to get them to help quickly.

Sleep Problems

Those suffering from bipolar depression will often sleep too much or not enough. This means that they will have sleep patterns that are greatly disturbed, making it possible that they will have trouble with other aspects of their life because of their difficult sleep schedule. Lack of sleep can lead to drowsiness during the day and aggression and forgetfulness, and other issues that can lead to bodily harm or danger.

Forgetfulness

This is the last sign you may want to look for. If you or someone you know suffers from one or more of these symptoms coupled with forgetfulness, you may be bipolar depressive. This does not mean something simple like forgetting where you put your pen but more important things like forgetting ideas that you have just come up with.

What Should I Do?

If you or someone you know is bipolar depressive or if you feel that they are, you should take care to get help immediately. There is a bipolar depression test that you can take that will give you a basic idea of your symptoms, but Who should not use this to diagnose real illness. It would help if you took the time to talk to a professional who can prescribe bipolar depression treatment and bipolar depression medication to help balance out the chemicals in the brain and bring you back to normal life.

This is a very dangerous disease that can turn so quickly. Though there are tests that claim they can answer the question, “am I bipolar or depressed” it is far safer and easier to talk to a doctor about your symptoms and what you can do to get better.

With the loss of celebrities like Robin Williams to depression, it is now more poignant than ever that someone can appear to be completely okay on the outside and very troubled on the inside. If you feel that you or someone you know is suffering from this disease, you should take the time to talk to a doctor that can deal with the issues and help you get on the road to recovery.

Depression does not have to end in tragedy. There are now more medications and therapies out there than ever before that can help those afflicted deal with the issues that depression brings and that can deal with getting you better faster.

Though it may seem hopeless to someone suffering from bipolar depression, it does not have to be the end. There are tons of great therapies and medicines out there that can help block the chemicals in your brain that cause manic episodes and help balance the output of chemicals that cause depression.