Bipolar disorder is also known as manic depression.
It's a complicated disease, which consists of medical and psychological features.
The symptoms can influence daily life functioning in such a way that therapy and or medication might be needed.
Some people say the mood of the person with bipolar disorder changed unexpectedly between depression and mania (the low and high), but that's a simplification, even though those two are most prominent in most people.
One can say that people with bipolar disorder react to events and experiences in a larger degree than other people, this might be in intensity or length of time.
Bipolar affects all of the person: feelings, thoughts, perceptions, behaviour, the way the own body reacts and is experienced.
The person might be affected lightly, but might progress in a period of heavy problems keeping grasp on reality. Some people lapse into times of psychosis, or might commit suicide.
Bipolar disorder is not only difficult to live with for tghe person himself, but also for family and other people.
The sudden onset of heavy emotions and/or excuberant behaviour can create the stress of being afraid to do something wrong not to set it off.
That's why the person with bipolar disorder needs to be diagnosed by a psychiatrist, and often receives medication and therapeutic intervention.
And why the people around him benefit from specialised information and a light form of family/group therapy.
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