Dear The Secret Psychiatrist, are these feelings of me feeling like I have supernatural powers and feeling really energetic normal?
Advice
Bipolar disorder is a mental health disorder that affects your mood. You can have periods in your life where you have changes in your mood, but then feel well in between. Bipolar can affect your relationships, as well as impact your day to day life.
Facts
Bipolar disorder affects about 1 in 100 people. Your mood changes can last for a few weeks or months.
Causes
This is not exactly known. However, research has suggested that an increase in your chance of getting bipolar is down to a combination of physical and social life stresses, genetic links, childhood trauma and environmental factors.
Signs
The signs range from different individuals depending on which affects them. You can experience symptoms of mania/hypomania (elevated mood); depressive symptoms (low mood); psychotic symptoms; or mixed episodes (high and low moods). If you suffer from mainly mania/hypomania, you might feel excited, irritable, increased sexual activity involvement, think you have special powers, be easily distracted, lack of sleep, spend more money and speak very quickly. If you suffer from depressive symptoms, you might feel tearful, guilty, suicidal, worthless, sleeping too much or too little and lack confidence. If you suffer with psychotic symptoms, then you might suffer from delusions (such as paranoia), or have hallucinations (for example, you might hear voices).
Treatment
Depending on your symptoms (high mood or low) your treatment plan will be tailored to you. Psychological therapies are available such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), Interpersonal therapy, behavioural couple’s therapy, group psychoeducation to name a few. If needed, you might be prescribed medication: antidepressants to help with low mood; antipsychotics to help symptoms of mania/hypomania; mood stabilisers to help with extreme mood swings; and anti convulsants to help with episodes of mania or depression in bipolar.
Remember
You are not alone, 1 in 4 of us suffer from mental health. Celebrities also suffer from bipolar disorder such as Mariah Carey and Kayne West. This means you can still be successful, even if you suffer from bipolar as long as you plan ahead for your mood swings, get enough sleep and look after your physical and mental health.
The Secret Psychiatrist is a female doctor and psychiatrist working currently in London. She has a degree in medicine and philosophy, and has founded her own charity based in Romania helping children with learning disabilities. She enjoys sharing her tales of her journey throughout medicine into the land of asylums across the world. When not working, you will find The Secret Psychiatrist traveling through the jungles of Peru or surviving earthquakes in Nepal. Being published internationally for her work in medicine and psychiatry, The Secret Psychiatrist is a keen writer, currently working on her children’s books. The Secret Psychiatrist welcomes readers to contact her with any questions relating to health, lifestyle and diet questions to help you live a more positive fulfilled life.
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