The Bipolar Blues
I have resurrected this old post because I didn’t do it justice last time (I just threw a link up) so I thought I’d give it some more care this time around 
Bipolar disorder, what used to be called “manic depressive disorder”, is a form of depression that fluctuates between depressive episodes and a manic, hypomanic, or mixed episodes (Bipolar Type I involves manic episodes, Bipolar Type II involves hypomanic). I will give you excerpts from the DSM-IV to help explain what those three actually are:
Criteria for Manic Episode (DSM-IV, p. 332)
A. A distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood, lasting at least 1 week (or any duration if hospitalization is necessary).B. During the period of mood disturbance, three (or more) of the following symptoms have persisted (four if the mood is only irritable) and have been present to a significant degree:
- inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
- decreased need for sleep (e.g., feels rested after only 3 hours of sleep)
- more talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking
- flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing
- distractibility (i.e., attention too easily drawn to unimportant or irrelevant external stimuli)
- increase in goal-directed activity (either socially, at work or school, or sexually) or psychomotor agitation
- excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high potential for painful consequences (e.g., engaging in unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions, or foolish business investments)
-Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, 1994
A hypomanic episode is defined the same as a manic episode, except the duration is changed to 4 days instead of one week, and there is no mention of hospitalisation. A mixed episode is described as the criteria being met “both for a Manic Episode and for a Major Depressive Episode (except for duration) nearly every day during at least a 1-week period.
Anyway, on to the video!
In case the video doesn’t work, here’s the link.
Please take a moment to read the full description over at The Wellcome Trust
