Understanding Bipolar Disorder

Mood swings and the tantrums ensuing as a result have been a topic of discussion since time immemorial but no-one actually understood what caused them until the term ‘Bipolar Disorder’ was coined. Believed to have risen from a single or a combination of factors, this is a medical condition which is characterized by extreme fluctuation in the mood of the person.

A patient of bipolar depression might feel truly elated one moment and is liable to sink into depression the very next instant, the former referred to as mania and the latter as depression. On combining the two terms, the resultant is the phrase ‘manic depression’ and it is the best way with which to describe bipolar disorder. While genetics play a seminal role in transference of this condition from one generation to the next, environmental and neurological factors have been known to contribute as well. Owing to these mixed reasons, this illness has earned for itself the name neurobiological disorder of the brain.