Depression - Health Library - Qoctor your quick online doctor https://www.qoctor.com.au Your Quick Online Doctor Fri, 14 Jun 2024 05:34:28 +0000 en-AU hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.8.1 What is Bipolar Affective Disorder? https://www.qoctor.com.au/bipolar-affective-disorder/ Thu, 01 Nov 2018 10:44:12 +0000 https://www.qoctor.com.au/?p=41751 What is Bipolar Disorder? what is it? symptoms types treatment What is Bipolar Disorder? Bipolar affective disorder is a mental illness that usually affects people in the following ways: Swings between episodes of depression & episodes of abnormally elevated mood (either mania or [...]

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What is Bipolar Disorder?

Authored by Dr Richard Bennett on 01.11.2018
Medically Reviewed by Dr AIFRIC BOYLAN
Last updated on 11.06.2024
what is it?
symptoms
types
treatment

What is Bipolar Disorder?

Bipolar affective disorder is a mental illness that usually affects people in the following ways:

  • Swings between episodes of depression & episodes of abnormally elevated mood (either mania or hypomania – hypomania is like mania, only milder).
  • Each cycle can last weeks, months or even years.
  • There can be periods where there is a mix of both extremes of mood.
  • The episodes of abnormally elevated mood can manifest as overactivity, irritability, reduced sleeping, confusion or even delusions and hallucinations.
  • People with bipolar disorder tend to spend more time depressed than manic.
  • As many as half of all people with bipolar affective disorder will experience rapid cycling, where several cycles of illness occur within a year.

bipolar affective disorder, bipolar disorder

What are the symptoms of mania and hypomania?

Mania:

  • can be easier to spot than hypomania.
  • is characterised by feelings of elation and a lack of insight that there’s a problem.
  • can lead to pretty severely abnormal behaviour, sometimes resulting in the need for a hospital admission.
  • usually makes the sufferer hyperactive, chatty or even confused & bizarre.

Hypomania:

  • is more subtle than mania.
  • may be recognised as similar to the elation of mania, but without the loss of ability to function normally.
  • tends not to include confusion or delusions.
What conditions can be assessed by our doctors?

What are the symptoms of depression?

Depression tends to be recognisable as:

  • low mood or sadness most of the time.
  • loss of interest, enjoyment or pleasure most of the time.

This may be accompanied by:

  • difficulty sleeping, OR sleeping excessively.
  • loss of appetite OR increase in appetite.
  • slowness in thought and action, OR agitation and anger/frustration.
  • difficulty concentrating.
  • excessive tiredness.
  • feeling bad about yourself.
  • considering suicide or acting suicidally.

What are the different types of Bipolar Affective Disorder?

Bipolar 1 Disorder:

  • Is more common
  • Includes the symptoms described above.

Bipolar 2 Disorder:

  • Doesn’t include episodes of true mania, but usually includes episodes of hypomania.

How is Bipolar Affective Disorder treated?

It depends how acutely ill the patient is.

  • If they’re currently very unwell, they may require admission to hospital.
  • If they require routine care, often a combination of medications and talk therapies (counselling/psychology) can be effective.
  • There are several medications that can be used.
  • Rarely, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is considered for patients who are still experiencing significant problems despite trying various other treatments.

What else could it be?

Manic or hypomanic symptoms can be caused by, amongst other things:

  • drugs
  • rarely certain specific brain disorders such as strokes or tumours
  • thyroid disorders

Depressive symptoms can be caused by, amongst other things:

  • drugs
  • physical illness (a very extensive list!)

What else do I need to know about Bipolar Disorder?

  • It’s serious. Up to 1 in 5 patients will die by suicide. The highest-risk periods for suicide are the episodes of depression or mixed mood.
  • There’s also a condition called cyclothymia that’s worth knowing about.

What is Cyclothymia?

  • Cyclothymia is a condition where the sufferer experiences mood swings between hypomania and a milder form of depression.
  • could be described as a milder form of bipolar affective disorder.

Further patient resources

www.beyondblue.org.au

If you or somebody you know is suicidal, you are not alone and help is available. Here are your options, in no particular order:

  1. Call Lifeline Australia on 13-11-14
  2. Call a friend or family member
  3. Call 000
  4. Call your local GP surgery
  5. Call the Suicide Callback Service on 1300-659-467

Article resources

NICE (April 2018). Depression. https://www.nice.org.uk/>

NICE (April 2018). Bipolar disorder. https://www.nice.org.uk/>

Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin 2005; 43(4):28-31.

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]]> How to recognise depression https://www.qoctor.com.au/spotting-depression/ Tue, 25 Jul 2017 13:40:20 +0000 https://www.qoctor.com.au/?p=7270 Recognising Depression What are the symptoms of Depression? What is depression? Depression is a disease which causes you to become trapped in a state of painful sadness for most of the time. Doctors often say it becomes true depression if it’s lasted more than 2 weeks. If you’re reading this article and wondering [...]

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Recognising Depression

What are the symptoms of Depression?

What is depression?

Depression is a disease which causes you to become trapped in a state of painful sadness for most of the time. Doctors often say it becomes true depression if it’s lasted more than 2 weeks. If you’re reading this article and wondering if you’re suffering from depression, then you’re probably already feeling sad enough to need medical advice. You may be surprised to learn that getting the right kind of medical help can aid your recovery. 

Because happiness and sadness are so personal and subjective, it can be difficult to know whether you have the disease “depression” or not- some of the following information may help. 

depression

Symptoms of Depression may include:

  • Anxiety.
  • Decrease or increase in appetite – maybe you feel you’re forcing yourself to eat, or maybe you’re comfort eating.
  • Bad sleep – particularly not falling asleep easily or waking in the early hours.
  • Easily losing your temper at silly things, or easily becoming tearful.
  • Fatigue, loss of energy.
  • Loss of motivation – finding it hard to get out of bed, leave the house or meet people.
  • “Anhedonia” – the inability to enjoy the things you would normally enjoy.
  • Either fidgeting or becoming slow-moving.
  • Feelings of guilt or self-loathing.
  • Wanting to die.
  • Severe depression can also sometimes lead to delusions and hallucinations.

Depression may be:

  • Recurrent (and sometimes seasonal) – it comes and goes.
  • Persistent – most of the time.
  • Part of a bipolar disorder involving distinct episodes of unusual upswings in mood.

Depression may also be:

  • “Reactive” – there’s a cause, for example the death of loved one or the breakdown of a relationship.
  • “Endogenous” – there’s no obvious trigger. You just feel that way. If this is the case, it can be harmful to keep looking for a cause, as this will only delay your acceptance of your illness and cause you guilty feelings – “I shouldn’t feel like this.”

Both reactive and endogenous depression can be extremely serious illnesses.

Some advice that you may find helpful:

  • If you’re depressed, you’ll almost certainly worry what people will think if you admit you’re unwell. In that case, you should ask yourself the following question: “If somebody I know told me they were sick with depression, how would I react?”

By not telling our loved ones that we’re unwell, we deny them the opportunity to help.

  • If you feel there’s nobody you can turn to, please tell a GP – there should be nothing embarrassing about it and it could actually be the first step to feeling happy again.
depression
  • You’re not alone – about 3 million Australian adults have a mental illness. There are so many unhappy people, feeling paralysed by the thought of getting help. Half of all of us have a mental illness at some point. That means there’s a good chance that even your GP has had a mental illness.
  • In the meantime, if you think you may be suffering from depression, talk it through with your GP or read more at the Beyond Blue website.
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