Manic Depression

Manic depression is a mental illness that is also known as bipolar mood disorder. This is a disorder that often first arises in adolescence or young adulthood, and is characterized by mood swings. The mood swings in manic depression can vary from mild and occasional to severe and frequent, and the longer manic depression is left untreated the higher the risk of it getting more severe as the years go by.

A person with manic depression will swing from depressed, low moods to manic highs, and in line with the mood swings come changes in the way the person thinks and behaves. The symptoms of this illness will vary, as the person will think and behave very differently during a manic episode compared to when he or she is going through a depressed episode. However some of the symptoms to look out for include:

Depressed episode

• Fatigue, mental and physical
• Appetite changes
• Sleep pattern disturbances
• Pessimism
• Anxiety and fear
• Loss of interest in general
• Loss of libido
• Low self esteem
• Hostile and irritable

Manic episode

• Ideas of grandeur
• Sudden need to socialize at all hours
• Sexual obsession
• Demanding and angry
• Making others feel worthless
• Excess energy
• Overspending or wasting money
• Talking loudly and quickly

As you can see, the thinking and behavioural traits between the two episodes are practically opposites, so the person can really change during mood swings. Each mood swing can vary in terms of duration, so the person with manic depression could spend anything from a few days to a few months feeling depressed and then swing to manic for anything from a few days to a few months. There is not necessarily a pattern with manic depression either, although some people do experience a pattern when it comes to recurrences.