Bipolar Disorder And Mental Disorders - 1249 Words

Bipolar Disorder, also known as manic/depressive disorder once was a disorder that carried a severe societal stigmatism. It now has carries less stigmatism but is a disorder which has become difficult to diagnosis and extremely prevalent in today’s society. Due to the manic characteristic of the disorder it differentiates itself from the typical form of depression. Even though both depression and bipolar disorder can be due to an imbalance in brain chemistry and biology, genetics, or effected by traumatic stressors that happen in daily life, bipolar disorder has definitive treatment which applies solely to this specific disorder. Bipolar Disorder, as noted in the 2010 Global Burden of Disease Study, is ranked Internationally as the 18th†¦show more content†¦These patient’s impairment is noticeable in social and work environments. The diagnosis of BD-II patients must have a history of hypomania and major depression. The diagnosis of cyclothymic disorder is given when hypomania symptoms are present but the depression present has not met the criteria needed to be considered a depressive episode. When the hypomanic and depressive symptoms both don’t meet the specific diagnostic elements a diagnosis of bipolar disorder not otherwise specified is given. It is the mania end of the spectrum in which bipolar disorder can be diagnosed adequately. Mania can be described as an elevation in mood that causes an impairment in normal functioning with the condition persisting for a minimum of 7 days. Hypomania is also an elevation of mood but without the characteristics of an impairment in normal functions, the condition persisting for a minimum of 4 days or less. Individuals who have experienced one episode of mania are diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder I (BD-I) and individuals who experience hypomania are diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder II (BD-II). The term bipolar was first used in 1957 by Leonhard7 for disorders comprising both manic and depressive symptoms. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) in 1980 replaced the manic depression term