Bipolar disorder
From CaseyPedia
Bipolar disorder is a mental illness, formerly called "manic depression". In simplified terms, sufferers experience cyclical mood swings from full-blown mania to major depression and back again, each cycle lasting, on average, a few weeks. Symptoms of mania include:
- 1. A distinct period of persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood, lasting throughout at least 4 days, that is clearly different from the usual non depressed mood.
- 2. During the period of mood disturbance, three (or more) of the following symptoms have persisted (four if the mood is only irritable) and have been present to a significant degree:
- inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
- decreased need for sleep (e.g., feels rested after only 3 hours of sleep)
- more talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking
- flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing
- distractibility (i.e., attention too easily drawn to unimportant or irrelevant external stimuli)
- increase in goal-directed activity (either socially, at work or school, or sexually) or psychomotor agitation
- excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high potential for painful consequences (e.g., the person engages in unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions, or foolish business investments)
- 3. The disturbance in mood and the change in functioning are observable by others.
- 4. The episode is severe enough to cause marked impairment in social or occupational functioning, or to necessitate hospitalization, and there may be psychotic features.
- 5. The symptoms are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication, or other treatment) or a general medical condition (e.g., hyperthyroidism).[1]
It has been speculated by many of his readers that Casey Serin exhibits many tell-tale signs of untreated bipolar disorder, which have led to his inability to make simple decisions and stick to plans. Serin's blog posts have had a tendency to go from overly exuberant to depressive and pessimistic on cycles lasting anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.
On August 13th, 2008, Serin claimed that he was considering a visit to a psychiatrist for the first time --
- I’m seriously thinking of going to go see a mental health professional…. anybody have recommendations here in Sac? I don’t have health insurance though. So I will have to barter and/or work something out so that its not too expensive.[2]
[edit] References
- ↑ Criteria for Manic Episode, Wikipedia
- ↑ Thinking of seeing a mental health professional, Comment by TrueCasey, August 13, 2008.
