Do you know these facts about manic depression

Manic-depressive disorder is a mental illness characterized by abnormal lows and highs in mood. It has many causes, mainly mania and depression. It occurs at irregular intervals and is difficult to treat, with recurrences. So what exactly is bipolar disorder? Let’s learn about it together.

Manic depression is abbreviated as bipolar disorder, and some people also call it affective disorder. The main symptoms are abnormal emotions, often accompanied by behavioral and thinking disorders. The characteristics of his emotional changes are excessive highs or lows. His thinking and behavior change accordingly and are in harmony with the surrounding environment, making them easy for people to understand. Therefore, they are often easy to infect others, that is, people around them are often easily moved by the patient's emotions and behaviors. When the disease manifests itself as high emotions during the onset of the disease, it is called mania, and when it manifests itself as low emotions, it is called depression. This type of patient may experience repeated attacks throughout their life, with the interval between two attacks being called an interval. At this time, the patient's mental state has completely returned to normal. The recurrent illness may occur in the form of mania or depression each time, or the two forms may alternate irregularly. Most of these patients have multiple recurrent attacks, while a few only have one attack in their lifetime. Some patients may have more than 10 attacks from young to old, but despite multiple attacks, their mental state rarely deteriorates after the illness.

The first onset of the disease usually occurs between the ages of 16 and 30, and there are more female patients than male patients. The typical symptoms of mania are elevated mood, rapid thinking, and increased speech and movement. The typical symptoms of depression are the opposite of mania, manifested as low mood, slow thinking and reduced speech and movement. Patients in the manic phase should live in a quiet environment, be properly guided to carry out simple activities, and avoid direct conflicts with them.

This disease mostly begins in young and middle-aged people. Among common mental illnesses, its incidence is lower than that of schizophrenia. The course of each illness is generally 2 to 6 months. The illness not only affects the patient's labor force but also brings a burden to the spirit and life of his or her relatives. The course of the disease often becomes longer with age, and it is easy to become a chronic disease when the patient is old and weak.

For example, we met a male ironer who had a total of 19 attacks from the first onset at the age of 19 to the age of 60, an average of almost once every two years, each lasting about three to six months. Each attack was in the form of mania, with only one being an atypical mild depression. He worked very well during the intermission period and was often rated as an advanced worker in the factory. Later follow-up showed that due to his old age and frailty after the age of 60, the disease gradually became chronic and there was no relief for many years. The cause of this disease is currently unknown, so the focus should be on timely diagnosis, treatment and prevention.