Understanding bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder characterized by episodes of mania and depression. In this video, Ellen Leibenluft, MD, chief of bipolar spectrum disorders at the National Institute of Mental Health discusses causes, symptoms and treatments.

Transcript

00:00

One of the things if someone does have bipolar disorder is it's important for their family to be involved

00:06

in their treatment, their family and people close to them, because you can really do a lot of damage to your life in a manic episode.

00:14

[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:20

Bipolar disorder is defined-- it's what's called an episodic illness, which means that people have distinct episodes of a mood change.

00:32

So in mania, you'd be euphoric. You might be somewhat irritable, but it's

00:38

different than what you are usually. You also have change in your activity level.

00:44

You're much more active. You don't need very much sleep. You talk very fast.

00:51

You think very fast. On the other side, you have the depression, of course, where you feel sad.

00:57

Nothing is enjoyable. The peak age of onset is more in adolescence, early adulthood,

01:04

although it's important to say that bipolar disorder has a one-to-one gender ratio. OK, so boys and girls, men and women,

01:12

are as likely to have bipolar disorder. Treatments include both psychotherapies and lifestyle

01:22

changes and medications. The important thing here is to be working with a physician

01:29

where you feel you can really talk openly about what you're experiencing and where it's a team.

01:37

It's very much an art, and the relationship matters in making that art go well. I mean, the other thing that people are talking about

01:44

is different kinds, particularly for kids, different kinds of brain training. For example, some of our research and others

01:51

shows that children with bipolar disorder or children with severe irritability, they have difficulty identifying

01:59

face emotion properly. And you can actually train them using a computer game. You can train them to shift that.

02:07

The technology helping us to understand the brain and that leading us to new and better treatments, that's

02:15

what excites me the most. And it is happening. We can already see it happening. It's never happening as rapidly as we would like it to happen,

02:24

but it is happening. [AUDIO LOGO]