Mental Health

Untreated bipolar disorder can become severe, and may have a range of effects on a person's work, relationships, mental and physical health, and decision-making. Without effective treatment, the bipolar disorder can cause episodes of mania, depression, or both. Symptoms of a manic episode can include intense excitement, excessive energy, anxiety, or racing thoughts. A depressive episode can cause sadness, hopelessness, or low energy. An effective treatment regimen typically involves a combination of medications and psychotherapy. This article discusses untreated bipolar disorder, including the effects it may have on work, relationships, and mental and physical health. It also explains treatment options, outlook, and support resources. Treatment can help manage the symptoms of bipolar disorder. Without treatment, symptoms may affect a person's life in various ways, including their: Personal life Bipolar disorder can lead to difficulties with daily tasks, such as personal hygien...

A recent study provides evidence that narcissistic grandiosity may indirectly influence the development of psychotic-like experiences through biased cognitive and emotional processing pathways. The findings, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research , could have important implications for potential therapeutic interventions to prevent the development of comorbid psychopathology in individuals with narcissism. Psychosis is a mental health condition that can lead to distorted thinking and perceptions, including hallucinations and delusions. Individuals with narcissistic traits are often seen as self-absorbed and overly confident, displaying an exaggerated sense of self-importance. While previous research has explored both narcissism and psychosis independently, this study aimed to uncover potential connections between the two phenomena. The researchers were motivated by a desire to better understand the factors contributing to psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) in the general popul...

I'm a licensed social worker who has been living with schizoaffective disorder bipolar type for over a decade. Schizoaffective disorder is basically like if schizophrenia and bipolar disorder had a baby—I experience psychotic symptoms (like hallucinations and delusions) as well as mood symptoms (like depression and mania). Mood disorders can be upsetting and scary, both for those living with them and the people around them. Here, I'll explain my mood symptoms—depression, mania, hypomania, and mixed states—and share what it's like living with a mood disorder. A Quick Explanation For most people with a mood disorder like bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disorder, depressive and manic episodes can last a few weeks, a few months, or more. However, I experience something called "rapid cycling"—when I have a mood episode, it generally lasts anywhere from a few hours to a few days (though my depressive episodes do tend to be longer, and can last ...

In February 2009, multi-millionaire businessman Paul Downes asked a film-maker to fly out to Jamaica to make a record of his search to find a wife. Paul, who has never married, had decided he wanted to settle down and have a family, so he had fliers distributed in the Ukraine where the women embodied all the attributes he was looking for in a life partner. He then arranged for a shortlist of 12 women to fly out and spend two weeks with him in the exclusive villa he had rented. Events did not go according to plan: unsurprisingly, choosing a wife was hampered (largely) by language problems, and the scheme ultimately cost Paul around $250,000. This bizarre story forms the centrepiece of a TV documentary to be shown next week, which looks at what is dubbed the '21st-century" disease – bipolar disorder. It is characterised by extreme mood swings, and during his exploits in Jamaica Paul was in the grip of a manic episode...

Bipolar disorder is a mental health condition characterized by dramatic shifts in mood and energy levels. The mood episodes linked to bipolar disorder can make it difficult for the person to go about their day-to-day life. However, some people with bipolar disorder are able to manage their symptoms and go about their day. Colloquially, this is referred to as 'high-functioning' bipolar disorder. 'High-functioning' bipolar disorder is when someone with bipolar disorder is stable enough to live a full life, with work, family, and hobbies, says Aimee Daramus, PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist and author of "Understanding Bipolar Disorder." "People with 'high-functioning' bipolar disorder may not have mood episodes if they've found the right medication, or they may still have mood episodes and have learned the skills to manage them," says Dr. Daramus. 'High-functioning' bipolar disorder isn't ...

A mental health emergency is usually a situation in which someone's mental state seems to be dangerous, either to themselves or to others around them. It's appropriate to take a child, teenager or young adult to the emergency room if their behavior becomes dangerously risky or violent, or if they are threatening to harm themselves or someone else.   Sometimes parents, school officials or police officers will send a young person to the ER if they are out of control or appear to be out of touch with reality.  If you find yourself taking a child to the emergency room, it's important to know what to expect. In a mental health crisis, what happens at the ER is different than when you go for an injury or physical illness.  Assessing safety   First, the ER doctors are not going to diagnose or treat what's upsetting your child. There's no mental health equivalent of setting a broken leg.   The primary t...

Abstract Early detection of bipolar depression (BPD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) has been challenging due to the lack of reliable and easily measurable biological markers. This study aimed to investigate the accuracy of discriminating patients with mood disorders from healthy controls based on task state skin potential characteristics and their correlation with individual indicators of oxidative stress. A total of 77 patients with BPD, 53 patients with MDD, and 79 healthy controls were recruited. A custom-made device, previously shown to be sufficiently accurate, was used to collect skin potential data during six emotion-inducing tasks involving video, pictorial, or textual stimuli. Blood indicators reflecting individual levels of oxidative stress were collected. A discriminant model based on the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm was constructed for discriminant analysis. MDD and BPD patients were found to have abnormal skin potential characteristics on most tasks. The acc...