Bipolar and Related Disorders by Rachel De La Pena

Define

racheldlp3380 — 2025-05-05 03:03:33 UTC

Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that results in periods of intense emotional fluctuations. Some may experience feelings of ultimate happiness (referred to as mania) and other times feel extremely depressed. For this reason the disorder actually used to be referred to as manic-depressive disorder. These extreme shifts in emotions can often cause people to make irrational decisions or act impulsively. Most are diagnosed when they are children in the mid to late teens. The umbrella of this disorder includes:

Bipolar I Disorder
Bipolar II Disorder
Cyclothymic Disorder
Bipolar and Related Disorder Due to Another Medical Condition
Other Bipolar and Related Disorders (Specified and Unspecified)

Signs/Symptoms

racheldlp3380 — 2025-05-05 03:31:05 UTC

A child may experience first the signs of either the manic (happy/excited) symptoms or the depressive (unhappy, exhaustive) symptoms. In some cases you may see a mix of the symptoms referred to as "mixed episodes".

If they express the manic symptoms you may see:

-extreme excitement

-hostile or annoyed behavior

-making dangerous choices

-rapid thoughts

-lack of focus

Depressive symptoms may be:

-loss of interest in usually fun activities

-difficulty staying still

-exhaustions

-feels hopeless, loss of confidence

-withdraw from family and friends

-has a focus on death

Social, Emotional, and Academic Impacts

racheldlp3380 — 2025-05-05 22:36:56 UTC

Bipolar disorders show such drastic differences in behavior by either displaying manic (overly excited) and/or depressed (overly sad/angry) emotions that it can affect children, teens, and adults in a variety of ways. Having this disorder affects people socially, emotionally, and academically if untreated.

Socially, people may experience:

*due to their mood swings and impulsive behaviors, relationships may be stressful and difficult

*their behavior may lead to social withdraw

*difficulty with daily activities and responsibilities

Emotionally, people may experience:

*extreme stress with learning to handle extreme emotions and racing thoughts

*exhaustion and changes to appetite

*can feel agitated, hopelessness, lack of confidence or impulsive over confidence

Academically, people may experience:

*difficulty focusing on work and staying on task

*struggles with friendships at school

*become behind in work and assessments

*difficulty with sitting still

*disciplinary action if become aggressive or display risky behavior

The Affects of Bipolar Disorders

racheldlp3380 — 2025-05-05 22:50:28 UTC

Bipolar disorders can affect children and teens in several aspects of life because of the fluctuation of emotions they experience. If untreated they will struggle with friends, family, school, and any social attempts. This can affect them by falling behind in school and lack social skills. When they do receive treatment it will be important to receive therapy not only for the disorder itself, but therapy to also reteach social skills, improve self confidence to function in school, and to recognize and handle emotions that develop as a result of this disorder. Bipolar disorders can affect their way of life and unfortunately can lead to thoughts of suicide or committing suicide. Support from family and friends is a necessity to ensure treatment to continue. It is also common to coincide with other mental health disorders if left untreated. Bipolar disorder will need to be treated for life with medication to help with mood and because there is risk of relapse, therapy will be necessary.

racheldlp3380 — 2025-05-05 22:53:49 UTC