Depression and Bipolar Disorder 

We all experience changes in our mood. Sometimes we feel energetic, full of ideas, or irritable, and other times we feel sad or down. But these moods usually don’t last long, and we can go about our daily lives. Depression and bipolar disorder are two mental illnesses that change the way people feel and make it hard for them to go about their daily routine.

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      Depression: Depression is not simply a temporary change in mood or a sign of weakness. It is a real medical condition with many emotional, physical, behavioural and cognitive symptoms.

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Many of the symptoms of depression are a case of too much – or too little.

For example, you may…

• Be sleeping too little or sleeping too much.

• Have gained or lost weight.

• Be highly agitated or sluggish and inert.

• Be extremely sad or very bad tempered - or both.

 

You may also feel….

• A loss of interest in the pleasures of life, as well as work, family and friends.

• Unable to concentrate and make decisions.

• Negative, anxious, trapped, unable to act.

• Despairing, guilty and unworthy.

• Fatigue and an overall loss of energy.

• Suicidal – expressing thoughts and sometimes, making plans.

• Numb – an awful feeling of emptiness.

• Unexplained aches and pains. A diagnosis of depression is arrived at when a person has been experiencing at least five of these symptoms for a period of two weeks or more.

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Bipolar Disorder: People who have bipolar disorder can have periods in which they feel overly happy and energized and other periods of feeling very sad, hopeless, and sluggish. In between those periods, they usually feel normal. You can think of the highs and the lows as two "poles" of mood, which is why it's called "bipolar" disorder.

 

How severe it gets differs from person to person and can also change over time, becoming more or less severe.

Symptoms of mania ("the highs"):

• Excessive happiness, hopefulness, and excitement

• Sudden changes from being joyful to being irritable, angry, and hostile

• Restlessness

• Rapid speech and poor concentration

• Increased energy and less need for sleep

• Unusually high sex drive

• Making grand and unrealistic plans

• Showing poor judgment

• Drug and alcohol abuse

• Becoming more impulsive

During depressive periods ("the lows"), a person with bipolar disorder may have:

• Sadness

• Loss of energy

• Feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness

• Not enjoying things they once liked

• Trouble concentrating

• Uncontrollable crying

• Trouble making decisions

• Irritability

• Needing more sleep

• Insomnia

• Appetite changes that make them lose or gain weight

• Thoughts of death or suicide

• Attempting suicide

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