LucidInterval.org - A Self-Management Guide for Bipolar Disorder What Is Bipolar? | Types, Symptoms, Treatment Bipolar disorder is a treatable illness marked by extreme changes in mood, thought, energy, and behavior. Bipolar disorder is also known as manic depression because a person’s mood can alternate between the “poles”—mania (highs) and depression (lows). The change in mood can last for hours, days, weeks, or months. What bipolar is not Bipolar disorder is not a character flaw or sign of personal weakness. Who bipolar disorder affects Bipolar disorder affects more than two million adult Americans. An equal number of men and women develop this illness. The illness tends to run in families and appears to have a genetic link. Types of bipolar disorder Different types of bipolar disorder are determined by patterns and severity of symptoms of highs and lows. Bipolar I disorder is characterized by one or more manic episodes that last at least a week or require hospitalization. Bipolar II disorder is characterized by one or more depressive episodes accompanied by at least one hypomanic episode.
Bipolar World TARA Association for Personality Disorder Mania Manic Episode Several elements must be present to diagnose a manic episode. First, there must be a distinct period during which there are marked changes in mood—abnormally elevated (on top of the world), expansive (flamboyant, filters off), or irritable—and goal-directed activity or energy level. Next, the uncharacteristic behavior or mood must last at least a week, or require hospitalization. • inflated self-esteem or grandiosity • decreased need for sleep (for example, feeling rested after just a few hours’ sleep) • more talkative or sociable than usual, or pressure to keep talking • flight of ideas or the feeling that thoughts are racing • easily distracted by unimportant or irrelevant things • Increase in activity levels, either goal-directed (such as taking on new projects or socializing more) or a restless busyness • plunging into reckless activities like buying sprees, promiscuity or high-risk business deals Hypomanic Episode Major Depressive Episode
Schizophrenia.com, Indepth Schizophrenia Information and Support How to increase serotonin in the human brain without drugs 5 Simple Strategies to Reclaim Your Sleep During Daylight Saving Time Photo: Pexels.com By April Michael I really have a love/hate relationship with Daylight Saving Time (DST). When I was younger, I always got excited about the “spring forward” since it means longer daylight hours and that summer is just around the corner. As I got older, though, and particularly after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, DST meant my already tenuous sleep patterns would take a further beating. Somewhat counterintuitively, my manias always lined up with fall and winter, while my depressions lined up with spring and summer. So how do you maintain your mental health during the clock change, whether you’re stable or in a depressive or manic episode? As you probably well know, maintaining good sleep hygiene is a crucial part of maintaining good mental health, particularly in the case of bipolar disorder. Scientists have found a link between lack of sleep and increased risk of relapse for people with bipolar disorder. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Read more:
Personality disorders A personality disorder is a type of mental disorder in which you have a rigid and unhealthy pattern of thinking, functioning and behaving. A person with a personality disorder has trouble perceiving and relating to situations and to people. This causes significant problems and limitations in relationships, social encounters, work and school. In some cases, you may not realize that you have a personality disorder because your way of thinking and behaving seems natural to you. Personality disorders usually begin in the teenage years or early adulthood. SymptomsJan. 31, 2014 References Personality disorders.
The Limits of Intelligence Santiago Ramón y Cajal, the Spanish Nobel-winning biologist who mapped the neural anatomy of insects in the decades before World War I, likened the minute circuitry of their vision-processing neurons to an exquisite pocket watch. He likened that of mammals, by comparison, to a hollow-chested grandfather clock. Indeed, it is humbling to think that a honeybee, with its milligram-size brain, can perform tasks such as navigating mazes and landscapes on a par with mammals. A honeybee may be limited by having comparatively few neurons, but it surely seems to squeeze everything it can out of them. At the other extreme, an elephant, with its five-million-fold larger brain, suffers the inefficiencies of a sprawling Mesopotamian empire. We humans may not occupy the dimensional extremes of elephants or honeybees, but what few people realize is that the laws of physics place tough constraints on our mental faculties as well. Sign up for Scientific American’s free newsletters.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Symptoms, Treatment and Self-Help What is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)? Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop following a traumatic event that threatens your safety or makes you feel helpless. Most people associate PTSD with battle-scarred soldiers—and military combat is the most common cause in men—but any overwhelming life experience can trigger PTSD, especially if the event feels unpredictable and uncontrollable. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can affect those who personally experience the catastrophe, those who witness it, and those who pick up the pieces afterwards, including emergency workers and law enforcement officers. It can even occur in the friends or family members of those who went through the actual trauma. PTSD develops differently from person to person. Traumatic events that can lead to PTSD include: The difference between PTSD and a normal response to trauma For most people, however, these symptoms are short-lived. A normal response to trauma becomes PTSD when you become stuck
25 Acts of Body Language to Avoid Our body language exhibits far more information about how we feel than it is possible to articulate verbally. All of the physical gestures we make are subconsciously interpreted by others. This can work for or against us depending on the kind of body language we use. Some gestures project a very positive message, while others do nothing but set a negative tone. Most people are totally oblivious to their own body language, so the discipline of controlling these gestures can be quite challenging. Most of them are reflexive in nature, automatically matching up to what our minds are thinking at any given moment. Nevertheless, with the right information and a little practice, we can train ourselves to overcome most of our negative body language habits. Practice avoiding these 25 negative gestures: “ I speak two languages, Body and English. ” — Mae West Holding Objects in Front of Your Body – a coffee cup, notebook, hand bag, etc. Want to know powerful, dominant, confident body language postures?
8 Things Everybody Ought to Know About Concentrating “Music helps me concentrate,” Mike said to me glancing briefly over his shoulder. Mike was in his room writing a paper for his U.S. History class. On his desk next to his computer sat crunched Red Bulls, empty Gatorade bottles, some extra pocket change and scattered pieces of paper. In the pocket of his sweat pants rested a blaring iPod with a chord that dangled near the floor, almost touching against his Adidas sandals. On his computer sat even more stray objects than his surrounding environment. Mike made a shift about every thirty seconds between all of the above. Do you know a person like this? The Science Behind Concentration In the above account, Mike’s obviously stuck in a routine that many of us may have found ourselves in, yet in the moment we feel it’s almost an impossible routine to get out of. When we constantly multitask to get things done, we’re not multitasking, we’re rapidly shifting our attention. Phase 1: Blood Rush Alert Phase 2: Find and Execute Phase 3: Disengagement
List of common misconceptions From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Each entry on this list of common misconceptions is worded as a correction; the misconceptions themselves are implied rather than stated. These entries are concise summaries; the main subject articles can be consulted for more detail. A common misconception is a viewpoint or factoid that is often accepted as true but which is actually false. Arts and culture[edit] Business[edit] Federal legal tender laws in the United States do not require that private businesses, persons, or organizations accept cash for payment, though it must be treated as valid payment for debts when tendered to a creditor.[1] Food and cooking[edit] Food and drink history[edit] Microwave ovens[edit] Film and television[edit] Language[edit] English language[edit] Law, crime, and military[edit] United States[edit] Twinkies were not claimed to be the cause of San Francisco mayor George Moscone's and supervisor Harvey Milk's murders. Literature[edit] Fine arts[edit] Music[edit] Popular music[edit]