Bipolar Disorder | Boomers Daily

Cleveland Clinic (April 6, 2023) – About 5.7 million adults in the U.S. have bipolar disorder. The lifelong mental health condition, which includes four different types, is known for the maniac and depressive episodes someone experiences.

Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:26 What is bipolar disorder? 0:50 What does a manic episode feel like? 1:18 What does a depressive episode feel like? 2:00 How to manage bipolar disorder

What is bipolar disorder?

Bipolar disorder (formerly known as manic-depressive illness or manic depression) is a lifelong mood disorder and mental health condition that causes intense shifts in mood, energy levels, thinking patterns and behavior. These shifts can last for hours, days, weeks or months and interrupt your ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.

There are a few types of bipolar disorder, which involve experiencing significant fluctuations in mood referred to as hypomanic/manic and depressive episodes. However, people with bipolar disorder aren’t always in a hypomanic/manic or depressive state. They also experience periods of normal mood, known as euthymia.

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From a Nature Magazine review:

He wondered whether lithium could have the same tranquillizing effect on his patients. After trying it out on himself to establish a safe dose, Cade began treating ten people with mania. In September 1949, he reported fast and dramatic improvements in all of them in the Medical Journal of Australia (J. F. J. Cade Med. J. Aus. 2, 349–351; 1949). The majority of these patients had been in and out of Bundoora for years; now, five had improved enough to return to their homes and families.

Lithium: A Doctor, a Drug, and a Breakthrough Walter A. BrownLiveright (2019)

Some 70 years ago, John Cade, an Australian psychiatrist, discovered a medication for bipolar disorder that helped many patients to regain stability swiftly. Lithium is now the standard treatment for the condition, and one of the most consistently effective medicines in psychiatry. But its rise was riddled with obstacles. The intertwined story of Cade and his momentous finding is told in Lithium, a compelling book by US psychiatrist Walter Brown.

Read first part of Chapter 1: