Bipolar Disorder Affects Children and Adults

Here we are in the third millennium and everything is great, except that a record number of people are going nuts. Specifically, there are more people with bipolar disorder and other forms of depression, that one would think that life in the early days - before washing machines were invented - may have been better. Whether this is true or not doesn't help the situation. Because SRI's (Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) are being prescribed as often as aspirin nowadays.

Regardless of how common bipolar disorder has become in recent years, there are several treatment methods that are worth looking into. Awareness has been raised and the medical community is sitting up and paying attention.

Manic depression makes it very hard for a person to get anything productive done, and certainly nothing done while they are in the 'low' state. But the hyper-active state can be just as unproductive: the person is bouncing around in an ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) sort of way.

As it turns out, many people start to develop manic depression in their childhood. This would be bad enough, except that because of this the symptoms of bipolar disorder go unnoticed for years. This makes it very important for parents to pay extra attention to changes in their child's behavior that may indicate the onset of manic depression.

Manic depression is currently affecting 5.7 million Americans, or almost 3 percent of the adult population. Many times the condition doesn't show up until a person is over 18 years old. It can be triggered by a traumatic experience in life. The important thing to know, however, is that there are effective treatment methods for manic depression.

Another symptom of bipolar disorder is keeping really late hours or not sleeping at all for a day or two. This could be followed by the victim sleeping for two days. (This sort of behavior identifies methamphetamine users as well, though. The effects of severe bipolar disorder are strong enough to mimic a hard drug user - that's how powerful this mental ailment is.

There have been natural cures hyped for bipolar disorder (and other types of depression) since day one. Herbs like St. John's wort. Does it really work? Probably as well as certain prescription drugs, but not as well as others. There has been some evidence of peppermint leaf extract helping counter symptoms of bipolar disorder as well.

For children, there is some evidence that dairy products have triggered manic episodes. So the advice here is to avoid giving your child milk before bed and instead switch to soy milk - if anything at all. In any case, have a professional examine your child to determine if he or she is developing bipolar disorder or any other mental ailment. Do this before it escalates into something harder to treat.