Bi-polar disorder is a brain disorder with common symptoms such as up and down swings in moods and physical energy. Because very few people go for bi-polar tests to find out what is wrong with them, it is often confused with depression or interpreted as sporadic mood swings and hence goes untreated for long periods. However, unlike depression and mood swings, bi-polar disorders are not mental or physiological diseases. It is a chronic brain disorder with no permanent cure for the time being. If you suspect you may have a bi-polar condition, you should go for a bi-polar test as soon as possible.

Bi-polar disorder victims are prone to swing between two very different states of mind, hence the name bi-polar. The bi-polar patients are appear happy and excited at one moment and then without prior warning, become depressed or melancholy. The general public associates the bi-polar disease with mania and depression. These bi-polar affective disorder patients cannot control their moods and may be to extreme behaviors such as being unable to sleep, increased sex drive, uncontrollable shopaholicism, easily angered lost will to live on etc. At the final stages of the disease, bi-polar symptoms include constant urges to end life or lost all motivation to carry on living. If you noticed a friend or colleague displaying such bi-polar syndromes and are thinking of commit suicide, quickly rush them to the hospital for a bi-polar test.

Although a permanent bi-polar cure is not created, bi-polar symptoms can be suppressed and the maniac mood swings experienced by victims can be stabilized such that they can continue to lead normal lives. The first step is to get them to acknowledge and accept their brain disorders and become motivated to cope with their bi-polar conditions. Thereafter, bi-polar treatment can be started using both medication and psychiatric therapy sessions. Lithium, with its ability to stabilize our moods, is the main ingredient used in the mood stabilizer medication prescribed by doctors. Although both adults and bi-polar children have been found to respond well to lithium mood medications, some side-effects of the lithium mood stabilizers can include sudden weight gain, loss of sexual drive, loss of hair etc. Instead of stopping bi-polar medication completely, patients must consult the doctor's advice, and adapt the dosage and type of mood stabilizers. It is very important that bi-polar disorder patients regularly take their mood stabilizers because sometimes the bi-polar condition can resurface without displaying any visible symptoms when medication is stopped for a while. Psychiatric therapy is also used in treating bi-polar patients and in this case, it serves a monitoring function to track and observe the current status of the patient because psychiatric therapy can often detect underlying problems caused by bi-polar disorders that are not easily noticed by friends and family members.

Caring for bi-polar affective disorder patients involves more than just the brain specialist and the psychiatrist. Close family, friends and relatives are all required to understand bi-polar disorders and the side effects caused by the medication in greater details in order to help the disorder patient. For example, having understanding and caring friends around the patient can help soother the bi-polar maniac mood swings that suddenly appear from time to time. Electroconvulsive therapy is also used for treating severe bi-polar conditions where frequent suicidal tendencies are being displayed and there is not time to use slower acting bi-polar medication or psychiatric therapy.

There is actually no need to worry or self blame if you have been tested positive for bi-polar type 1 or bi-polar type 2 diseases. Being largely a genetic disorder, bi-polar conditions can be passed down hereditary from generation to generation. Its main complication arises because of the difficulty in testing for the presence of bi-polar disorders. There are still no blood tests or medical tests that can promptly detect the onset of bi-polar disorders. Investigative diagnoses are used based on check the displayed mood swings and symptoms, family medical history, etc.

The disease can occur in children, adults and the elderly. Bi-polar children are especially difficult to diagnose and care for because of the typical hyperactive behavior of children as well as their disobedience, irritability and so on.