Understanding bipolar disorder
Without effective treatment, bipolar disorder can have tragic outcomes.
Everybody has good days and bad days; happy moods and sad moods. In bipolar disorder, these feelings become so extreme that you cannot cope without treatment.
In severe episodes of mania or depression, something called "psychosis" can happen. Someone with psychosis may have hallucinations or strange and irrational beliefs. Learn more about psychosis.
Experts today believe that bipolar disorder is caused by several different things, including a chemical imbalance in your brain. Learn more about the causes of bipolar disorder.
When this brain disorder is severe and untreated, you cannot think clearly and rationally. The result can even be an attempt at suicide.
To manage bipolar disorder, you will first need to learn as much as you can about the causes and effects of the disorder. The more we know about how bipolar disorder will affect us, the better equipped we are to deal with it.
