Understanding Manic Depression

Manic depression is a type of depression where the person suffering from the ailment suffers from extreme lows as well as extreme highs. When someone who is manic feels low, they feel incredibly depressed. Many times they get so depressed that they feel suicidal.

Either before or after the depression, these people feel a euphoric high. They feel full of energy, like they can do no wrong. Sometimes they'll go days without sleeping and take on tons of new projects that they couldn't possibly finish. This type of depression is like being on a rollercoaster. One minute you're on top of the world and the next minute you're on the bottom. This mental illness is frequently referred to as bi-polar disorder.

Manic depressive illness can start at any age, though it tends to start when a person is a young adult or in their early 20s. It does not discriminate against race or gender. It effects men and women, black people and white people and everyone in between. You're more likely to suffer from it if someone in your family also suffers from the illness.

How Do I Know if I Have It?

The only real way to know if you have manic depressive illness is by going to a psychiatrist. Psychiatrists will ask you a series of questions to determine if you're manic depressive. They will ask you about your moods. As mentioned earlier, extreme changes in a person's moods are indicative of this illness. Now, if you've have a bad day so you feel blue, but the next day you get a promotion and you feel elated, you probably don't have it. That's a very normal way to react to such situations. However, if you're moods are extreme for more than a week, you might be manic.

Friends and family are good at determining when the ones they love aren't acting "normally." So, if several of them start approaching you about your extreme mood swings, you might want to see a doctor.

Getting Help

Manic depressive illness is difficult to treat. There are dozens of different medications and psychological treatment options, but doctors never know which medication will be the perfect fit for each patient. However, doctors who are trained to work with this illness are very good at helping their patients find the right medication.