THE ESSENTIAL
- Bipolar disorders are among the ten most disabling pathologies according to the World Health Organization.
- 40% of depressed people are actually bipolar who ignore themselves.
1,600,000. This is the number of people with bipolar disorder in France. Bipolarity is a chronic mental illness characterized by recurrent mood disorders. In patients, the mood evolves according to two phases, which occur alternately: the manic or hypomanic episodes (elevated mood, agitation, euphoria) and the depressive phase (great sadness, loss of all desire for activity, suicidal). These episodes may be accompanied by increased social activities, hallucinations, low self-esteem, attention and sleep disturbances. Between these phases there are intervals of remission. These are the times when the mood returns to normal.
What are the origins of bipolarity?
Bipolar disorders occur early, sometimes in adolescence and most often in early adult life, between 15 and 25 years old. However, this mental condition can also occur in people over 60 or even 70 years old. “In addition, men and women are affected in the same proportions. However, bipolar disorder begins more often with a depressive episode in women and a manic episode in men”, says health insurance.
To date, the causes of bipolarity are poorly understood. In predisposed people, this disorder can be caused by stress caused by emotional separation, death or dismissal. The consumption of alcohol, tobacco and drugs is also part of the triggering factors of this psychic pathology. This condition can also appear after a lack of sleep and more rarely because of taking certain medications (corticosteroids, anti-inflammatories, etc.).
How to diagnose bipolar disorder?
, can we read on the site troubles-bipolar.com. In general, it often takes 10 years between the onset of the condition and the initiation of appropriate treatment. In case of bipolarity, a psychiatric consultation can confirm the diagnosis, assess the severity of the disorder and find the cause of the disease. The psychiatrist must work in collaboration with a general practitioner, the occupational doctor or the school health doctor. The initial assessment of bipolar disorder is sometimes carried out during hospitalization to protect the sick person presenting a serious depressive disorder with risk of suicide and in order to avoid harmful behaviors for his life.
For better patient care, researchers at the University of Manitoba in Canada have developed a test that could detect this mental illness in less than an hour and identify patients at risk. According to the results of their study published in the journal The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry in 2019the nervous activity of the vestibular system was very different if the person was bipolar, depressed or healthy. “The role of the psychiatrist remains extremely important in the care of the patient, but I think that this tool would be very useful as a complement”, said Brian Lithgow, author of the work.
Reducing the risk of suicide with electroshock
In case of bipolar disorder, there is always a risk of suicide, which could affect 10% of patients. To find a way to limit this risk, Italian scientists carried out research, including the results were published in the journal The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry in 2020. After following 670 bipolar patients, they found that electroconvulsive therapy, also called electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), could reduce the risk of suicide in high-risk bipolar patients by 84%.