Teens Living With a Bipolar Disorder

1. Teens Living With a Bipolar Disorder By: BriaPlattenburg

2. Bipolar disorder • What is a Bipolar Disorder? Bipolar disorder is a serious brain illness. It is also called manic-depressive illness. Teens with a bipolar disorder go through unusual mood changes.

4. Causes • What causes a bipolar disorder? Genes, abnormal brain structure, brain function, and anxiety disorders. Genes are a heredity that is transferred through family such as a parent to their offspring. A bipolar illness can run through families. An abnormal brain structure is an unusual brain function and teens with the disorder are more likely to have an abnormal brain. The brain controls the functioning of the body through electrical impulses and units of the brain are different nerve cells. There are many anxiety disorders and an anxiety disorder is a mental illness and a teen with an anxiety disorder is likely to be bipolar as well.

5. Effect • What are effects of bipolar disorder? Bipolar mood changes are called mood episodes. A teen can have manic episodes, depressive episodes, and mixed episodes. A mixed episode is a mixture of both manic and depressive episodes. Teens are more likely to have more mixed episodes. Mood episodes last a week or two, sometimes longer. During an episode, the symptoms last every day for most of the day. Mood episodes are intense. The feelings are strong and happen along with extreme changes in behavior and energy levels.

6. Manic Episodes Teens that have manic episodes…. • Feel very happy or act silly in a way that's unusual. • Have a very short temper. • Talk really fast about a lot of different things. • Have trouble sleeping but not feel tired. • Have trouble staying focused. • Talk and think about sex more often. • Do risky things.

7. Depressive Episodes Teens that have a depressive episode…. • Feel very sad. • Complain about pain a lot, like stomachaches and headaches. • Sleep too little or too much. • Feel guilty and worthless. • Eat too little or too much. • Have little energy and no interest in fun activities. • Think about death or suicide.

8. Mixed Episodes A mixed episode is essentially an episode that simultaneously presents symptoms of both depression and mania. For example, an individual with bipolar disorder may have all the frantic energy of mania, but may also be struggling with the black thoughts of depression.

9. Treatment There isn’t a cure for having a bipolar disorder. Doctors treat teens with the illness in a similar way that they treat adults. Treatment works best when it’s ongoing and steady. Different types of medications can help, teens respond to medications in different ways, so the type of medication depends on the child. Some teens may need more than one type of medication because their symptoms are so complex. Sometimes they need to try different types of medicine to see which are best for them. Teens should take the fewest number and smallest amounts of medications as possible to help their symptoms. Teens should always tell their doctor about any problems are side effects.

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