Understanding Bipolar Disorder: What You Need to Know

Bipolar disorder is a mental illness characterized by severe mood swings that cause emotional highs and lows. These unusual shifts affect a person’s energy, mood, and activity levels, making it difficult to carry out daily tasks. Bipolar disorder causes mood swings that occur rarely or multiple times a year. Hence, psychiatric services in Prince George’s County, Maryland, are necessary to manage its symptoms.

Although bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition, its symptoms can be managed with a treatment plan and behavioral health services in Maryland. A person with bipolar disorder experiences emotional highs or hypomania and emotional lows or depression. These symptoms may include:

• Depression

  During a period of depression, a person with bipolar disorder requires mental health treatment to deal with symptoms like pessimism, self-doubt, and delusions. They may also experience an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness and emptiness. Hence, they lose interest in everyday activities, withdraw from loved ones, and have difficulty concentrating and sleeping.

• Hypomania

  The manic phase of bipolar disorder includes feelings of extreme joy, happiness, and self-importance. A person with bipolar disorder experiencing a manic episode may feel full of energy and jabber, experience delusions, and perform actions that may have disastrous consequences.

Today, the exact cause of bipolar disorder is unknown, but several factors may contribute to it. Biological differences are characterized by physical changes in the brain that are common in people with bipolar disorder. Genetics may also play a role as those diagnosed with the disorder tend to have a first-degree relative to the condition.

Exousia Behavioral Health provides psychiatric and behavioral health care in Suitland, Maryland. Reach out to us to learn how we utilize our expertise to manage conditions like bipolar disorder.