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All about Bipolar Depression

Prevalence

Bipolar depression most commonly occurs among adolescents and young adults. Although there is no significant gender difference, women are more susceptible towards developing bipolar depression than men. Over 2 million Americans are suffering from bipolar depression. This disorder, although very rare but, has been identified in children below 12 years of age. Careful diagnosis needs to be implemented as because there is a high probability to intermingle the symptoms of bipolar depression with attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Characteristics

Bipolar depression, also known as manic depression, combines both the features of depressive episode as well as manic episode. In the depressive episodes, the victim may experience persistent sadness, anxiety, emptiness, helplessness, guilty, worthlessness, hopelessness, and loss of interest, loss of energy, loss of memory, irritability, restlessness, and lack of sleep, appetite imbalance, and recurrent thoughts of suicide.

In the manic episodes, the victim may show symptoms like extreme irritation, distraction, euphoric feeling, bizarre behavior, risk taking behavior, increase in energy, irrational thoughts and beliefs, poor judgmental abilities, heightened sex drive, substance abuse, confrontational behavior, and strong denial of problem.

Treatment

Bipolar depression significantly affects life events. The individuals suffering from bipolar depression are in serious need for help to identify and to rectify their set of actions. The first essential step is counseling that can facilitate the suffering individual about the severity of the problem and the possible treatments. During counseling session, it is the responsibility of the counselor to let the victim accustom to the whole situation and to accept that the disorder has an important impact on life management.

Treatment can offer effective solution if administered properly and on time. In fact, treatment response is quite satisfactory for a majority of the cases, including severe form of bipolar depression. Lithium is administered in the management of depressive as well as manic episodes. Mood stabilizing anticonvulsants may also offer benefits. For children and adolescents, the problem is handled with lithium administration.

In most of the cases, people suffering from bipolar depression are not ready to accept that they have a problem. A continuous support from friends, family members and significant others are always required in order to receive the highest possible benefits from the treatment. Bipolar depression is a lifelong problem. So prolonged treatment plan needs to be designed in order to keep the victim in a better shape.

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