What is Bipolar Disorder

Learn about bipolar disorder and how to recognize this condition.

Male1: Doctor Lanet is going to discuss the definition of bipolar. Male2: Alright, very quickly, in many people’s minds, bipolar disorder means mania or that is an important part of this. Now that is true, but people think of many as grandiosity and euphoria and delusions of grandeur and I do not have it or my child does not have that, I cannot have bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder does not have to especially in young children usually does not have a feature of euphoria or grandiosity. The main feature of mania in childhood bipolar disorder is the energized irritability and loss of temper that goes on for more than ten minutes—ten or 15 minutes. This distinctly is not normal. But when people lose their temper, they usually lose it for a very short period of time, but just to make comprehensible, the energy of euphoria is akin to the energy of irritability. So these kids may not look mad, they may look miserable, they may look like they are problem children and they often are difficult to handle. Male1: But classically, they do have periods where they are way above and sometimes below? Male2: Classically, but that is the adult classic. Children do not typically have episodes of mania of grandiosity and euphoria. They very commonly in childhood will have rapid cycling, meaning within a day, they may go from happy to miserable including irritability or within a few days—but it can happen within a day, they can rapid cycle or have what is called a mix states in which both of the manic and understand I am talking about a child, a child with mania is co-existing with depression so that they are miserable, they are irritable, they are losing their temper, they are breaking things, they are screaming. So childhood bipolar disorder is not typically characterized by episodes that are separate of mania in the classic form and depressed episodes. It is a classic form. Male1: Do medicines help people with bipolar? Male2: Very much and in this diagnosis, medicine is very important. Male1: But there are still those that do not respond? Male2: That is unfortunately true.