BPAD In Chennai

Everyone has ups and downs in mood. Sometimes you may bubble with energy and good spirits, with everything being a lot of fun and healthy positive outlook on life. Other times you feel ‘off mood’, when things are not particularly enjoyable and everything seems to be going wrong. Changes in mood are so much a part of life, that we sometimes fail to recognize when they are abnormal.

Bipolar Affective Disorder (Manic-Depressive Disorder / Manic Depression) — causes mood swings which take the form of depression or mania that last for several months at a time. Causes include biochemical imbalance in the brain. Treatment includes medicines like  anti depressants, and mood stabilizers.

When  depressed  the person has great sadness, guilt, no appetite, poor sleep and is unable to experience any enjoyment. During mania the  person experiences extreme elation and has erratic and excited behavior. A less extreme form of mania is termed hypomania with similar but less intense symptoms. Some patients may also have “mixed” episode with symptoms of both mania and depression episode for a short period of time. Mood shifts may occur just once or a few times a year.

Bipolar disorder requires lifelong treatment, even during periods when you feel better. There are several categories of treatment. There is different treatment for manic episodes, depressive episodes and rapid cycling. Apart for these treatments to stop episodes of depression and mania there is also long term maintenance therapy.The primary treatments for include medications; individual, or family psychological counseling (psychotherapy); or education.

Precautions :— The episodes once started do not usually go away on their own and before the episode is over, violence to others or self; total breakdown of work, social support and family are real dangers.

The treatment is to be started immediately and person helped/restrained from making any long term mistakes. The family also must not make the patient a focus of attention and should try and network with other familiar to ensure learning from each other as well as give support.

Instead of clear-cut depression and mania or hypomania, the most prominent signs of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents can include explosive temper, rapid mood shifts, reckless behavior and aggression. In some cases, these shifts occur within hours or less — for example, a child may have intense periods of silliness, long bouts of crying and outbursts of explosive anger all in one day. Changing sleep patterns are also a common indicator of childhood bipolar disorder.
Medication works best for Manic depressive psychosis. The treatment, which must be taken regularly and for a long period of time, controls the episodes with a high rate of success. When the problem is especially severe, the person may have to be hospitalized until he or she is behaving normally again.