Bipolar Disorder

12 Pages 2972 Words

wenty-four hour period, the person's diagnosis could possibly be phrased ultra-ultra-rapid cycling or ultradian. Ultradian cycling is often difficult to differentiate from a mixed state, when a person experiences aspects of both depression and mania or hypomania at the same time. Sometimes mania is prominent, sometimes depression (A).

Bipolar I can have some very frightening characteristics of psychosis (loss of contact with reality). These may include: hallucinations (hearing or seeing things that are not there), delusions (persistent beliefs in things that are not true), and paranoia (believing that a person or group is actively working to harm you, without any basis in fact). These psychotic features are also characteristic of schizophrenia, a mental illness where the patient is out of touch with reality, but without mood swings. Bridging the space between bipolar disorder and schizophrenia is schizoaffective disorder. What distinguishes schizoaffective disorder from Bipolar I with psychotic features is that sometimes (for at least...