Causal Analysis Essays (1957 words) - Mood Disorders, Psychiatry

Bipolar Disorder Bipolar Disorder Introduction Bipolar disorder, formally known as manic depression, is a mental disorder that seems to be talked around on a regular basis. The fact of the matter is, though, that it is an illness that affects many people worldwide. The purpose of this analysis is to provide an overview of a relatively common disorder that isn't necessarily common knowledge due to its extreme states of behaviors. Bipolar disorder causes both episodes of mania and of depression and, therefore, it make s life harder for those living with the condition. History Bipolar disorder, or rather the research gathered on it, started much earlier than the common person would assume . The h istory of manic depression is found in its first record s dated back to ancient Greece. Greeks believed manic behavior, or mental derangement, to be attributed to humor and melancholy being imbalanced (Martin, 2007, p. 16). Purging was a solution used to combat said imbalance; mania was organic, and so purging was an organic solution. Plato, in the Phaedrus, found mania to be some kind of inspiration from God or other strong emotional connections. Therefore, these were considered emotional disorders (Martin, 2007, p. 17). In the 1800s, it was acknowledged that emotions are their own force of the mind , as well as willpower and intellect . Emotional i nsanity was a proposed ide a that failed because there was no way to figure out which emotion meant what to each person (Martin, 2007, p. 17). Charles Darwin believed that emotions were something that humans attained over years of evolution. However, his research was stopped before it even began to develop because he thought that emotions were so deep that no individual would be able to account for their experiences (Martin, 2007, p. 17). Unfortunately, it took years for research to be completed on this. Bipolar disorder was originally referred to as manic depression and has made its way to the public eye through celebrities embracing their tendencies . Jim Ca r rey and Robin Williams are two people that those who were diagnosed with bipolar disorder look up to for their manic roles on the television. Both men act ed in roles that depict states of manic behavior, and because they are successful it is almost inspirational (Martin, 2007 , p. 1 ). In another form of art, Vincent van Gogh and Georgia O'Keeffe express ed their manic emotions on canvas with paint . These manic behaviors evoke fascination to people because of the productivity to come out of their manic behavior (Martin, 2007 , p. 1 ) . One pharmaceutical company wanted to use van Gogh's painting on the front of a brochure for a drug to treat bipolar disorder, however, it sparked the conversation of controversy. Since van Gogh took his own life at the youn g age of thirty-seven, there was the concern that people could assume that without the drug they would, in fact, die (Martin, 2007 , p. 154 ). Luckily the pamphlet used other designs so as to not display the said assumption . F urther ing the timeline on this research , a new realm of prescription drugs w as being produced to combat this mood disorder. S erotonin (5-HT) , a neurotransmitter that inhibits a happier mood because of its ability to act as an antidepressant (Young, 2000, p. 44). Because of that, it played a huge role in developing medicine for manic depression (Martin, 2007, p. 25). Subsequently, manic depression , under the official name of bipolar disorder to the DSM-III , in 1980 greatly advanced the battle against the sickness. Since the year of 1999 , the label "bipolar disorder" has been used three times more than that of "manic depression" (Martin, 2007, p. 27). The term bipolar itself can be broken down into two parts: bi- meaning two, and polar- meaning opposite tendencies. With the two meanings put together, it is a label given to those who experience two very opposite moods (Martin, 2007, p. 28). Biological Factors Now with some background information on the illness itself, it is time to further explain just what it does to someone suffering from it. Although there are