Bipolar disorder causes dramatic shifts in a person's mood, energy and ability to think clearly. Individuals with this disorder experience extreme high and low moods, known as mania and depression. Some people can be symptom-free for many years between episodes.
My son has bipolar disorder and is mostly depressed. He did not tolerate Lamictal (lamotrigine) or Seroquel (quetiapine). What are some other options for treatment?
Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment options, public understanding about bipolar disorder remains low, according to two surveys released by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) today – Bipolar Disorder Awareness Day
NAMI's heart goes out to the family of Rigoberto Alpizar and to the marshals involved in the shooting, who we know must be profoundly affected by this tragedy.
Today the Archives of General Psychiatry published a study on the effectiveness of psychosocial treatments for bipolar disorder, “Psychosocial Treatments for Bipolar Disorder.”
We do a great disservice to people diagnosed with bipolar disorder by ignoring the condition’s types. Too often I see "bipolar disorder" used alone, yet the illness actually exists on a spectrum. For most of my teenage years, I struggled with sadness, lack of energy,...
While no marriage is easy—as evidenced by the 50% failure rate in United States—challenges stack up when a mental health condition is added to the mix. The prospect of dealing with a lifelong, life-threatening condition can be overwhelming. The diagnosis of bipolar disord...
Scientist Kay Redfield Jamison once said before you can conquer “a beast,” you must make it beautiful first. This Chinese philosophy was something she tried to follow while managing her bipolar disorder. In her book Touched with Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Art...
When I tell people I have bipolar disorder, I act all nonchalant about it. Some people are shocked, not because I am mentally ill, but because I don’t “show signs.”
Bipolar disorder is a complicated mental illness. It has a variety of layers and symptoms, which can make it difficult to understand. However, this doesn’t mean that it — or the people who have it — should have to deal with unfair assumptions and misconceptions. ...
Getting the right diagnosis often isn’t easy for psychiatric conditions. In our field, we don’t yet have biologic tests that can easily define one condition from another. If your blood pressure is 140 over 90, you have hypertension or high blood pressure. In mental heal...
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder my Junior year in college. I was failing out and my family thought I should get checked for any learning disorders and psychological issues. What we found was that I was living with bipolar II.
When bp Magazine launched in 2004 at NAMI’s 25 th Anniversary Convention , it was a pioneering publication—the only one of its kind to serve the millions of Americans experiencing bipolar disorder. Thank you to our beloved Carrie Fisher —who agreed to be interv...
People often portray bipolar disorder as a condition that causes someone to have constant and extreme mood swings at any given moment, but that doesn’t truly capture the nature of this condition. Representing bipolar disorder in popular culture accurately is critical towar...
Due to a high rate of mental illness found among the college population, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill urges parents to talk to their children about mental illness before college and maintain an open dialogue throughout young adulthood.
When one suffers, we all suffer. We’re all in this together and it’s my desire to smash the stigma associated with mental illnesses of all kinds.