Overview on Bipolar Disorder: Signs and Treatment
Bipolar disorder is a chronic mental health condition that afflicts men and women in equal number. About 2.6% of the U.S. adult population will suffer from a bipolar episode within a given year, and 83% of these cases are determined to be “severe” enough to warrant hospitalization. There are several clinical subtypes of bipolar disorder. The disease is characterized by marked disruptions to a person’s mood. The patient will go from extreme to the other – from euphoria to major, crippling depression.
The time frame for these mood changes, their severity, and the symptoms that manifest are all different for each bipolar subtype. A person can have bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymia, mixed episodes, or rapid-cycling bipolar. This article will focus on the differences between bipolar I and bipolar II, the symptoms of each, and if transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an effective way to manage the disease.
What are the differences between bipolar I and bipolar II disorder?
Bipolar I and bipolar II disorder are incredibly similar. In both subtypes of the disease, a patient will go from mania to depression, and back again without treatment and intervention. Each episode of either mania or depression can last for weeks or months. A person can also go months or years before experiencing another episode of either mania or depression. However, the significant difference between these two clinical subtypes of bipolar disorders is that the mania, or manic episodes, present in bipolar I are much more severe than in bipolar II disorder.
Bipolar II patients with mania are called “hypomanic,” since the episodes are less severe and disruptive. Also, bipolar I patients are less likely to manifest severe bouts of depression, unlike a bipolar II patient. Bipolar I patients are more likely to be hospitalized for manic episodes, whereas bipolar II patients are often hospitalized for severe depression.
When a bipolar II patient is experiencing hypomania, their symptoms are often too subtle to family and friends that the disorder can go untreated for a long time, or misdiagnosed as only unipolar depression. In bipolar I episodes, a patient can experience dangerous and upsetting delusions, hallucinations, and paranoia if an episode is left untreated for too long. These bipolar patients are often misdiagnosed as schizophrenic.
Men exhibiting bipolar symptoms are also more likely to be misdiagnosed with schizophrenia, while women are more likely to receive an incomplete unipolar depression diagnosis. It can take four in ten bipolar patients up to three years after the onset of symptoms to get a correct diagnosis and subsequent treatment.
Anyone can develop the disorder, with the average age of onset being 25 years old. However, people can manifest symptoms as early as the teen years, while the vast majority of bipolar patients will exhibit symptoms by age 50. People with a close relative with either bipolar disorder or unipolar depression are at higher risk of manifesting symptoms than the general population.
What are the signs of bipolar I?
Patients with bipolar I disorder will exhibit extreme episodes of mania, or euphoria. Manic symptoms are noticeable, and usually severe enough to warrant outside intervention. Some of the symptoms of mania include:
- Feeling “high”, extremely energetic, and happy
- Becoming easily irritated and annoyed
- Unrelenting optimism
- Switching from one idea to the next in rapid order
- Displaying intense focus
- Fast, “pressured” talking and loud speech
- Sleeping very little, but not feeling tired
- Changes in weight
- Display grandiose delusions and extremely high self-confidence
- Engaging in risky, potentially dangerous behaviors and thrill-seeking
- Increased sociability, charisma, and extroverted behavior
Bipolar II patients will display these symptoms too, but they typically aren’t as severe. With bipolar I patients, these manic symptoms can become so severe that the person will start to display increasingly agitated, paranoid, and delusional behavior. They may think someone is out to get them, or that they are hearing the voice of God telling them to pursue an idea or person.
After a manic episode in bipolar I or hypomanic episode in bipolar II, patients often fall into a clinical depression. The depression that happens in bipolar disorder manifests the same symptoms that are present in major clinical depression. What makes the depression even more severe in bipolar disorder is that patients may feel incredibly ashamed, guilty, or embarrassed for what they’ve done while in a manic or hypomanic episode.
Mania and hypomania can cause patients to engage in financially risky behaviors, unprotected sex, and criminal activity. The consequences and stress of a manic episode can even trigger a bout of depression in bipolar patients. The severe, and possibly dangerous disruption that manic, hypomanic, and depressive episodes that bipolar disorder cause are incredibly harmful to a patient’s well-being and health.
It is critical that bipolar patients receive treatment for their symptoms and are given the tools to manage their disorder. With medication, therapy, and maintenance treatment plans in place, many patients can find long-term relief from symptoms.
Why is TMS a good option for treating bipolar disorder?
Patients who diligently take their medication and attend regular therapy sessions can still experience a recurrence of symptoms. Up to half of all bipolar patients will go on to experience another episode of the disorder within one year of initial treatment. Like any mental health condition, bipolar disorder is a lifelong, and chronic illness that requires customized treatment and contingency plans to the effective management of symptoms and future episodes. TMS treatment is a promising development in the ongoing maintenance of bipolar disorder. The therapy can help patients achieve longer remissions between episodes. For bipolar patients in a depressive episode, TMS is remarkably effective for alleviating the symptoms of depression.
Are you or a loved one living with bipolar disorder? Although it is a chronic illness, there are many effective ways to manage symptoms and prevent future episodes from recurring. The dedicated and skilled doctors at Pulse TMS have helped hundreds of bipolar patients find relief from their symptoms and achieve long-term remission from bipolar disorder. Representatives are standing by to answer your questions about the treatment. Please contact the technicians at Pulse TMS today to learn more about how transcranial magnetic stimulation can help you treat and manage bipolar disorder.