Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Manic Depression Symptoms: The Two Ends Of The Spectrum

Manic depression is a mental disorder that is also called manic
depressive disorder. To some, it is known as bipolar disorder.
Manic depression symptoms are known to be on the extreme sides
of the spectrum. They are either on the high end or the low end.
The high-end symptoms are known to be the manic symptoms while
the low end is known as the "hypo" symptoms or the depressive
symptoms.

This type of mental disorder is hard to spot because the
patient may appear to be going well after an episode of
depression. Unknown to people around him, he becomes sunny all
of the sudden not because he has overcome depression; it is just
that he shifted to mania, the other symptom of his illness.

The following are manic depression symptoms observed in
patients who suffer from the manic or high end of the mental
disease:

o Extreme kindness and euphoric mood.
o Being provocative.
o Inability to concentrate, always and easily distracted.
o Talking very fast due to the racing thoughts that flood the
mind.
o Extreme energy level, hyper activity and restlessness.
o Excessive and uncharacteristic spending.
o Incoherence and mixed ideas.
o Increase in sexual drive.
o Intrusive behavior.
o Overly aggressive behavior.
o Very poor judgment
o Believing in his own super powers and unrealistic abilities.
o Extremely irritable.
o Sleeps too little but still have too much energy.
o Abusive use of substances such as cocaine, alcohol, and
sleeping medications.
o Falling into a denial stage and not believing that anything
is wrong with him.

The following manic depression symptoms are observed from
patients on the low or depressed mode of the disorder.

o Sadness that stays for a considerable length of time
accompanied by anxiousness and feeling of emptiness.
o A constant feeling of fatigue and a very low energy level.
o Feeling hopeless and always pessimistic.
o Loss of sexual drive.
o Inability to feel pleasure from anything.
o Inability to concentrate.
o A gnawing sense of guilt and feeling worthless.
o Forgetfulness.
o Restlessness.
o Extreme irritability.
o Inability to make rational decisions.
o Insomnia or oversleeping.
o A drastic loss or gain of appetite that leads to either
weight loss or gain.
o Constant body pains that can not be confirmed by medical
examinations.
o Suicidal tendencies.

Psychosis is another phenomenon that can be observed as a manic
depression symptom. It occurs in both manic and depressive modes
of the disorder. It is characterized by hallucination and
delusion that is sometimes mistaken for schizophrenia (another
form of mental disorder that also manifests hallucination and
delusion).

It is important that proper diagnosis be done to tell whether
it is manic depression symptom or schizophrenia because the two
types of mental disorder need different types of psychological
and medical attention.

There are people who exhibit mixed manic depressive symptoms.
They manifest both the high and the low end symptoms of the
disorder at the same time.

When To Seek Help

As mentioned, it is not easy to determine if a person has manic
depressive disorder. If you suspect that you or a loved one is
suffering from this mental illness, it would be best if you go
and see a psychiatrist to fully assess your condition
immediately since the person with this illness has a very
erratic and unstable behavior. It can go from shoplifting to
promiscuous sexual behavior to suicide. What's more, these
behaviors may be manifest within a short period of time.

Proper diagnosis of the manic depressive symptoms is necessary
in order to provide the proper treatment needed by the patient.
The symptoms are confusing. The assistance of professional
people is important in order to recover properly. Administration
of medication is almost always necessary to stabilize the
patient. Medications would help a patient respond well to other
forms of psychiatric treatments such as psychotherapy and
cognitive therapy.

About The Author: Flor Serquina is a successful Webmaster and
publisher of http://www.facts-about-depression.com/. Visit her
website to learn more about manic depression symptoms.

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