7 Surprising Facts About Bipolar Disorder!

[Music] welcome back to polar warriors we are the world's largest solution based video support community for bipolar disorder I hope you feel very welcome here today I'm gonna go over seven surprising facts about bipolar disorder please feel free to share this video with family and friends if you think that it'll help them navigate through a bipolar diagnosis if you have any questions I now offer confidential one-on-one coaching through the polar warrior website so let's get started number one you can feel mania and depression at the same time we call this a mixed state or mixed mania if you don't live with bipolar disorder imagine taking a bunch of caffeine and a bunch of sleeping pills at the same time your mind and body won't know what the heck is going on it's a very very uncomfortable feeling mixed episodes are dangerous for me personally I might be extremely depressed but still have that manic energy to quote do something about it my choices are typically very self-destructive during a mixed episode there's this common misconception that people with bipolar disorder just go from high to low we're either super manic or a super depressed period bipolar disorder isn't that black and white in fact it's a spectrum disorder there are different levels of severity different types different triggers and we all have different thresholds when it comes to coping with all of it all that being said try to keep an open mind and not force fit bipolar disorder into a box so moving on number two bipolar disorder doesn't just go away one day we always have to be ready for symptoms to return it's really sneaky like that I can't tell you how many times I thought I was cured or that my symptoms wouldn't return since bipolar is a spectrum illness there's going to be times where we're very stable and high-functioning it's so easy to forget the bad times when you feel good bipolar is also progressive which means it doesn't get sweeter with age the longer you go avoiding treatment the worst episodes can get number three you can't reason with someone who's experiencing a severe bipolar episode this goes for depression mania and everything in between as author Julie fast put it the person you love is temporarily gone and bipolar disorder has moved in it's important for our loved ones to respond rather than react to our symptoms when we aren't well you can't try and talk us out of being ill the symptoms will have to run their course this is why it's so crucial to take advantage of the good times I know I'd much rather be hanging out with friends than go see a doctor on my days off but nothing is ever gonna change if I don't treat the bipolar disorder first number four watching us crash and burn might be an important part of the journey I talked to so many codependent partners and over-enthusiastic parents who want to shelter or protect their bipolar loved one from everything every bad episode I can't speak for everyone but I literally had to hit rock bottom to have a healthy fear of going there again I had to lose enough jobs and relationships I care deeply about to make some changes I guess I'm just stubborn like that I honestly don't think that I would be where I'm at today without going through some really nasty times if my partner or parents were always quote saving me I'd never learn my own coping strategies I'd be lost if they were gone it's just something to think about now if your loved one is a danger to themselves or others that's not the time for sitting on the sidelines all of this just comes down to common sense and using your best discretion number five it's not easy to diagnose bipolar disorder I didn't even have words for my feelings when I first saw a doctor all I said was I get depressed sometimes and my family said I should come here the doctor spent less than three minutes with me and sent me out the door with a Miss diagnosis and a pocket full of antidepressants I get why this happens so often I didn't see the mania as a problem back then in fact the antidepressants just made the mania skyrocket I felt so good that I thought I was cured until the crash came again and even harder this time once I've progressed to getting hospitalized during episodes they started throwing the word bipolar around I talked to a lot of people who are very anxious to get a diagnosis they've been spending time with doctors and they still don't have a specific type please know that the best doctors I've ever seen are the ones that took their time with a diagnosis I'd much rather have them get it right on the first try and not deal with the fallout of taking the wrong meds if your doctor isn't sure that probably means that they're doing their job you can help your doctor a lot by tracking your moods with an app or letting your doctor hear the observations of loved ones you can also jump ahead by just learning about bipolar disorder the more you learn the easier it'll be to put your own experiences into words the conversations that I have with doctors now are completely different from the conversations I had in my 20s it's like speaking a whole different language moving on to number six bipolar episodes are uniquely individual I know doctors use the DSM or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders when it comes to diagnosing people the DSM has very specific criteria for episodes and duration for me it's almost laughable to try and capture the essence of my bipolar experience in a black and white textbook it's a nice starting point and it helps guide the treatment approach but beyond that we have to get to know our own unique brand of bipolar disorder with different life experiences triggers likes and dislikes and even thresholds for suffering we all experience bipolar disorder currently so we've made it to the last one number seven there is no known single cause of bipolar disorder psychologists are still investigating the factors that lead to someone developing it they've identified a few main risk factors that increase the chances but it's far from an exact science these main factors include things like genetics family history and even brain structure I know many people start showing symptoms after suffering a loss or from an abusive environment but let's not confuse triggers with a root cause bipolar symptoms can be triggered by traumatic life events while the actual cause runs a little deeper if you made it all the way to this point in the video thank you so much for learning more about bipolar disorder with me my entire channel is dedicated to the topic so there's lots more if you want to keep learning before you go I'd love to hear what you think about the work that polar warriors is doing if you don't mind commenting or leaving a thumbs up it increases the chances that YouTube will show my videos to someone else it's a tiny way that you can help me to help more people stay well you guys and I'll be back here soon for more polar warrior videos [Music]

Channel: Polar Warriors

Views: 48,802

Keywords: Bipolar Disorder, Bipolar, Polar Warriors, Types of Bipolar Disorder, What is Bipolar Disorder, Manic Depression, Bipolar Mania, Bipolar Facts, Polar Warrior Bipolar, Bipolar Documentary, Bipolar Episode, How to Tell Bipolar

Id: VsldRut_Mz0

Length: 8min 22sec (502 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 13 2020