Bipolar Mood Disorder

The disease, which until recently was known as manic depression, is characterized by periods of a depression, often severe in intensity, alternating with frames opposed to depression, ie, the person has stirred up with many things to do, or even doing a lot of shopping or making spending too high and unnecessary, often accompanied by the feeling of omnipotence accompanied by insomnia and talking a lot, more than usual. This condition is known as mania. Both the frame when manic depression can last for weeks, months or years. It is important to reinforce that mania, in the medical sense, is different from mania to the layman, meaning the patient habits that the person repeats forever.
What is known about the cause of the disease, is the biological factors (related to brain neurotransmitters), genetic, social and psychological, that add up to develop the disease. In most of the genetic and biological factors can determine how the individual reacts to moments of psychological and social stress, maintaining normalcy or triggering the disease.
The most striking episodes of bipolar disorder are manic they may alternate with depression. The episodes begin to manifest around 15 to 25 years old, with many cases of women to develop between 45 and 50 years. The frequency for men and women is the same.
There are three ways where the mood disorder is manifested:
A first way would be to hypomania, which also occurs in mood elevated, expansive, eventful, but in a lighter. A hypomanic episode, unlike mania is not severe enough to cause impairment in work or social relationships, and not to require hospitalization of person.
Another way that the disease can manifest itself is the occurrence of mixed episodes, where in one day would be alternating between depression and mania. in a few hours one can cry, be sad, feeling worthless and hopeless, and the next moment be hectic, judge themselves capable of anything, or angry, talkative and aggressive.
The third way is known as cyclothymic disorder, or cyclothymia only where there is an alternation chronic and fluctuating mood, with numerous periods with manic symptoms and numerous periods with depressive symptoms. The depressive and manic symptoms were not sufficient nor occur in significant numbers to be sure to treat depression and mania. It would be so easily confused with the way of being the person judged as mood instability.
Treatment
Treatment after diagnosis is accompanied by precise remedies involving medications are called mood stabilizers, which lithium carbonate is the most studied and most widely used. The carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine and valproic acid also are effective. The psychiatric evaluations should be maintained for a long period, and some forms of psychotherapy may help in treatment.
Diagnosis
The diagnosis must be made by a doctor based on the symptoms of the psychiatric patient. For this disease there are no laboratory or imaging tests that help in its diagnosis.