What is Manic Depression?

Hello there. I’m Seaneen. And this is a blog about manic depression. Some days I “suffer” from it, some days I just have it. It’s all down to perspective. But first, here is some…

General Information about Manic Depression

It’s a mental illness that affects about 1% of the UK population. It’s also known as bipolar disorder. There are generally four different kinds of bipolar disorder:

1) Bipolar Disorder I: With full blown mania and depression.

2) Bipolar Disorder II: With hypomania (not full manic) and depression. People with bipolar II tend to experience depression more than hypomania, as opposed to people with bipolar I who do experience depression more often, but mania is not far behind. Hypomania is not considered to be mania as it doesn’t cause much impairment like mania does, and never progresses into psychosis, like mania can.

3) Bipolar NOS: Bipolar disorder not otherwise specified- i.e doesn’t fit into any category. People who experience mania or hypomania after taking medications for depression sometimes fall into this one.

4) Cyclothymia: chronic mild bipolar with periods of mild depression and mild depression. People with cyclothymia don’t have many “normal” periods.
Anyone with bipolar disorder can experience rapid-cycling, which means four or more episodes a year, or continuous episodes with a gap shorter than two months between, or even switching from one episode to another. Some people experience an episode every few months, some every week, some every day.

As well as mania and depression, there is also the dreaded mixed episode, which is literally being manic or hypomanic and depressed at the same time. This is generally considered to be the most dangerous episode. Mixed states may or may not have psychotic features.

I was diagnosed with bipolar 1 disorder with rapid cycling in October 2006. My diagnosis came after a while of being in a psychiatric hospital, where I was admitted when experiencing a psychotic mixed episode.

Bipolar I is considered to be “classic” manic depression, and is less common than bipolar II disorder. My experiences as a classic manic depressive have involved frequent, full-blown psychotic manic episodes, frequent depression, suicide attempts, self harm, mad amounts of anxiety and eventually rapid-cycling. I get hypomania too.

After four months of beating the crap out of myself for it, I decided to be open about my illness. I created this blog initially as a personal tool for which to chart my recovery from diagnosis and to speak out a little about what it’s like to suffer from manic depression. Of course, my experiences are not typical, and I can only speak for myself. But I thought that another voice in the chorus wouldn’t do any harm.

This blog also chronicles experiences of the mental health system, various frustrations and aims to dispel some myths and legends about manic depression. This blog also deals with other issues. I lost my dad to alcoholism recently and I discuss it here. I also have problems with anxiety, eating disorders, self-harm and Body Dysmorphic Disorder. I’ve also written about discrimination and the undeniable stigma surrounding mental illness. Here are a few things that I believe.

I believe that mental illnesses such as manic depression, unipolar depression and schizophrenia have a biological basis.

I also believe that nature does not always oppose nurture and that in the case of mental illness, both have a part to play.

I believe that the treatment of mental illness should have equal priority to the treatment of other long-standing physical conditions.

I believe that by and large, the mental health services in the UK are underfunded, understaffed and undervalued.

I believe in the importance of crisis centres and continuing care.

I believe that mental illness can’t be cured, but managed. And I don’t think that believing this is defeatist.

I believe that it is never weak to take medications or to go into hospital.

I believe that mental illness are not personality weaknesses and are not our fault.

I believe that untreated, mental illness can be as terminal as a physical illness and that mental illness needs to be approached and treated more effectively.

I believe that the media fuels ignorance and fear surrounding mental illness and that there should be more public education surrounding mental illness.

I believe in ending the spreading of misinformation about mental illness.

I believe that mental illness is ordinary. One in four people find they have depression at some point in their lives. 1% of the UK population have manic depression. A further 1% have schizophrenia.

I believe that there’s nothing wrong with having a mental illness. I also believe that you can deal with it in any way you want to. You can think of it as a gift, and that’s okay, and you can think of it as a force you want to fight, and that is okay too. I believe that it’s no-one’s business how you think of your mental illness. Whether you feel it is a part of you, or something outside you, or even both, is up to you.

I believe that people who have from mental illness should reclaim the negative words attributed to it. Looper is a particular favourite.

I believe that there’s nothing wrong with taking the piss.