Fast ups and downs in bipolar disorders

Up and down in bipolar disorders: life in the extremes

04/11/2015

About two million people suffer from strong mood swings. Doctors call this form of mental illness „bipolar disorder“. This serious illness not only leads to social isolation, but can even lead to death. The risk of suicide is significantly increased. The sometimes massive mood swings run in episodes.

Feeling is like a rollercoaster ride
According to estimates, around two million people in Germany suffer from bipolar disorder. The emotional world of those affected is like a rollercoaster ride. The phased mood swings alternate between exaggerated elation and destructive lows. A normal everyday life can hardly be overcome by this constant change between mania and depression. According to studies, those affected are up to 30 times more likely to commit suicide than the normal population. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), bipolar disorder is one of the ten diseases that are most commonly associated with ongoing disability worldwide.

Boundless drive and euphoria
The agency first writes about Thomas Stein (name changed). The hamburger has an interesting CV. He has lived and worked in many different places around the world, consulting companies, supporting non-governmental organizations and setting up internet startups. However, hard breaks and long hospital stays are part of the life of today's 50-year-old. As an 18-year-old, he throws him off in a very stressful life phase for the first time. He is doing his written Abitur, besides the driving school. At first he feels burdened by the demands and pressure, but then the emotional state turns into limitless zest for action and euphoria. He persuades friends to buy a house with him in France, but hides the non-existent financial background but completely. Thomas Stein is in the midst of his first mania.

„It feels like being on drugs“
Prof. Martin Schäfer, Director of the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Addiction Medicine in Essen and Chairman of the German Society for Bipolar Disorders told dpa: „In the mania, it can happen that patients in the job bring a whole company to shaky, for example, by speculating as a banker on the stock market through daring businesses a lot of money.“ In the case of those affected, the body releases too many euphoric messengers such as dopamine. „It feels like being on drugs: euphoric, uninhibited, in a good mood, full of energy, sleep seems superfluous“, so shepherd. In a mania, sufferers in the boundless exuberance of emotions often dare to do everything, hide dangers, act exaggerated and plunge into risky business. In the case of extreme severity, perceptual shifts may also occur.

Complete energy and listlessness
On the other hand, the same people also know the other side: the often long periods of depression, characterized by inner restlessness, fears, feelings of guilt, thoughts of suicide, inability to take decisions and complete lack of energy and listlessness. Extreme mood swings are typical of a bipolar disorder that also afflicts Thomas Stein. But apart from the destructive component, there is also the other side of bipolar disorder. „The beginning mania, the hypomania, can mean that one is well, one is enormously capable, one can carry others“, said the head of the outpatient clinic for psychosis and bipolar disorder, Prof. Thomas Bock. Artists such as Vincent van Gogh or Robert Schumann have created great things in such phases.

Causes of bipolar disorder largely unclear
The causes of bipolar disorders are still largely unexplained. The risk is higher if the family has already experienced depression or bipolar illnesses. „There are people with bipolar disorders in the highest floors of the economy“, explained Bock. Although the disorder does not necessarily mean that one can not work, the danger of turning from one extreme to another, falling into destructive mania or depression, remains. The diagnosis is often difficult. „From the first depressive episode to the diagnosis of bipolar disorders, not infrequently a good ten years pass“, so shepherd. Therefore, many sufferers do not receive adequate treatment for many years. The suffering is enormous. „The suicide rate in people with bipolar disorder is 10 to 15 times higher than in the normal population“, said shepherd. Without medication, the manic-depressive illness is much more difficult. Stress and stress, especially associated with lack of sleep, represent a particular risk. Self-observation and self-control are enormously important in order to protect against slipping in extreme phases.

Pay more attention to your own needs
„My experience is that people with Bipolar Disorder are more likely to be over-adjusted people who want to justify others who have not learned to delineate themselves enough. And then they are slain by all claims, foreign and their own“, explained Prof. Bock. When the disease is crucial to pay more attention to their own needs. To convey this is an important task of psychotherapy. Conversational and behavioral therapies can help those affected to get to know each other better and also to recognize early warning signals. Prof. Schäfer added that there are only a few disturbances where information is so important that you can achieve so much by being trained and educated. „You need a lot of discipline with this disease“, said Thomas Stein. But it is worth fighting because life is more than the disease. „I want to show other people as well as myself that the 'adventure existence' is worthwhile.“ He has done a lot in this regard. A very important aspect of life for him is the work. Privately, the disease has but many broken. (Ad)