For the week of July 16 - 22, 2003

Signs that indicate bipolar disorder

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According to the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill Web site, nami.org, signs of mania may include:

• Either an elated, happy mood or an irritable, angry, unpleasant mood
   
• Increased activity or energy
   
• More thoughts and faster thinking than normal
   
• Increased talking, more rapid speech than normal
   
• Ambitious, often grandiose, plans
   
• Increased sexual interest and activity
   
• Decreased sleep and decreased need for sleep

Depression is the other phase of bipolar disorder, according to NAMI. Its signs may include:

• Depressed or apathetic mood
   
• Decreased activity and energy
   
• Restlessness and irritability
   
• Fewer thoughts than usual and slowed thinking
   
• Less talking and slowed speech
   
• Less interest or participation in and less enjoyment of activities normally enjoyed
   
• Decreased sexual interest and activity
   
• Hopelessness and helpless feelings
   
• Feelings of guilt and worthlessness
   
• Pessimistic outlook
   
• Thoughts of suicide
   
• Change in appetite
   
• Change in sleep patterns

 

Recognizing self-destructive behavior
(From the Suicide Prevention Hotline)

Is the person:

• Seriously depressed
   
• Increasingly isolated
   
• Giving away prized possessions
   
• Doing poorly in school
   
• Making statements about wanting to die
   
• Acting in a violent fashion
   
• Taking unnecessary risks
   
• Threatening to commit suicide
   
• Acting in a strange manner
   
• Suddenly happy for no reason after a long depression
   
• Abusing drugs or alcohol

One sign may not signal trouble. More than one sign often means some help is necessary.

Notice how long the signs have been present, how deeply the person feels about things going wrong in his/her life and how many signs are present at one time.

Call the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 800-564-2120 for advice and help.

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Recommended reading

·  "How I Stayed Alive When My Brain Was Trying to Kill Me: One Person’s Guide to Suicide Prevention," by Susan Rose Blauner

·  "A Beautiful Mind: A Biography of John Forbes Nash, Jr.," winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, 1994, by Sylvia Nasar

·  "An Unquiet Mind," by Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, an expert in bipolar disorder and a sufferer for 30 years

·  "The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression," by Andrew Solomon

·  "The Day the Voices Stopped: A Memoir of Madness and Hope," by Ken Steele and Claire Berman

 

The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.