This a project for a high school AP Psychology course. This is a fictionalized account of having a psychological ailment. For questions about this blog project or its content please email the teacher, Laura Astorian: laura.astorian@cobbk12.org

2.  A mental disorder characterized by periods
of elevated mood and periods of depression.
It effects the personality and chemical
reactions within the brain.

3.  Mania: During this, a person feels or acts
abnormally happy, energetic, or irritable.
Makes poor decisions.
 Depression: During this, there may be crying,
poor eye contact with others, and a very
negative outlook on life.

4.  Bipolar Disorder begins to appear around the
early twenties in most people, but it can
appear as early as elementary school.
 Bipolar disorder appears before age 20 in
about one in five manic individuals.

5.  Using the DSM-IV, a mental health
professional will use signs and symptoms
including but not limited to family history
and presence of symptoms over time.

6.  Bipolar 1 Disorder: The typically thought of
bipolar disorder which includes the severe
mood swings and symptoms mentioned
previously.
 Bipolar 2 Disorder: A milder version of Bipolar
1 Disorder characterized by a milder version
of manic episodes.

7.  Besides poor decision making and the effects
of depression, there is a high risk of suicide
(6%), and self harm occurs in 30-40% of those
affected.
 Substance abuse disorder is very often
associated with it.

8.  Anxiety disorder often accompanies Bipolar
Disorder due to its stressful nature and
consequences.
 Substance Abuse Disorder often accompanies
Bipolar Disorder because the depressive and
manic states encourage substance abuse.

9.  Though they cannot find a specific factor
that causes bipolar disorder, it is widely
known that bipolar disorder can run in
families.
 This has been confirmed by twin studies
where there is a 70% chance that the other
twin also has the disorder.

10.  From postmortem samples of those with
bipolar disorder we can see there was a
different concentration of chemicals than is
normally seen. It is not known exactly what
these chemicals do.

11.  Lithium and Valproic acid have been the only
effective solutions but it is not known why
they work, only that they seem to reverse
the abnormal concentrations of chemicals
that were mentioned previously.

12.  Many side effects of treatment of Bipolar
Disorder go away after just a few weeks of
treatment.
 These side effects include, nausea, tremors,
hair loss, sexual problems, weight gain, liver
failure, abdominal pain, etc.

13. The Effects of Having Bipolar Disorder

14.  During my manic stages, I would go on large
spending sprees filled with happiness and a
feeling of euphoria.
 During my stages, I sometimes used drugs or
alcohol. My favorite drug is cocaine. This
stage of my life lasts about 5 days at a time.
 I always forget about my depression during
this stage.

15.  I hate these stages, they make me feel as if I
were worthless. I have trouble getting out of
bed and I sometimes contemplate suicide.
Sometimes I also practice self-harm…

16.  I guess this is what you would call the normal
stage or when I’m feeling normal like before
the disorder really set in.
 The worst part about this stage is waiting for
the next stage to set in. The anxiety of the
next attack coming wears me down…

17.  After my doctor formally diagnosed me, he
gave me something called lithium. He said
that it would help my brain counteract the
imbalance of chemicals.

18.  The side effects of that drug made me
nauseas for the first few weeks and I gained
a lot of weight and had some abdominal
pain.
 The treatment is starting to work more and
the side effects are starting to wear off.

19.  Sometimes I’m still depressed but it is very
mild. It’s hard to tell between the different
mood swings and I finally feel normal after
years of treatment.
 My shopping sprees have ended and I finally
feel normal.

20.  Before I started my medication, I had lost most of
the friends I had before the disorder had started.
 The manic stages annoyed my friends and I really
didn’t feel like hanging out with my old friends
when I got depressed.
 After explaining to my friends what happened with
my disorder, they were very accepting and now, we
get along perfectly.