Chloe Mouser - Essay - Harrison County
Item
Title
Chloe Mouser - Essay - Harrison County
Description
How Bipolar Disorder Affects Lives
Abstract
Everyone has highs and lows in their life and mood, but imagine your highs and lows being as high or low as it gets. Your Family and friends don’t understand your mood changes and strong episodes. This is how much of the U.S population feel on a daily basis due to bipolar disorder. Even when it is controlled with medication bipolar disorder is a hurdle in the everyday lives of those living with it. Bipolar disorder affects many aspects of peoples lives such as relationships, sleep, self esteem, and work life.
The unpredictable mood patterns of someone with bipolar disorder can have a severe effect on their relationships. The symptoms of mood changes can have a large effect on a person’s communication, a huge part of a relationships. These communication issues lead to many problems in their relationships. Maria Bastia stated this well when she said, “symptoms often associated with hypomania or mania such as distractibility, intrusive and domineering behavior may cause problems with communication…leading to feelings of being misunderstood, frustration, and conflict,” in an interview with Heinz C. Prechter bipolar research program from Michigan Medicine (Bipolar and Relationships, 2016). This is just one small example of the many ways bipolar disorder can affect the relationships of those living with it.
The strong depressive and manic episodes caused by bipolar disorder usually lead to trouble with sleep patterns like insomnia and hypersomnia. The episodes of hypersomnia or insomnia last as long if not longer than the manic and depressive episodes. In an article Dr Michael Murphy states, “In general, sleep is the first thing to go wrong and the last thing to get better (How Bipolar Disorder Affects Sleep,2022). These extreme uncontrollable changes in sleep patterns are not only annoying but cause problems in every day life. The issues caused by sleep patterns include lack of motivation, extreme fatigue, irritably, etc.
Due to the stigma around the disorder and thoughts during a depressive episode bipolar disorder can have a negative effect on a person’s self-esteem. During a depressive episode many people think that it is not their disorder causing issues in their life; instead they believe that there is something wrong with them as a person, or that they are messing everything up. In the book Madness: A Bipolar Life the author Marya Hornbacher says, “and then the horror sets in. All that time I wasn’t crazy; I was, in fact, crazy. It’s hopeless. I’m hopeless. Bipolar disorder. Manic depression. I’m sick. It’s true. It isn’t going to go away. All my life, I’ve thought that if I just worked hard enough, it would. I’ve always thought that if I just pulled myself together, I’d be a good person, a calm person, a person like everyone,” (2009). This describes how Hormbacher felt after getting her diagnosis. This is a great example of how people who are bipolar often feel about themselves and their disorder.
The work life and drive is a day to day change in someone with bipolar disorder due to the disorders effects on mood, concentration, and energy levels. Depending on the day and weather they are feeling manic or depressed, someone with bipolar disorders work drive is completely controlled by the disorder. In an article on how bipolar disorder affects your jobs the Joseph Raspolich states that, the nature of the disorder can make it difficult to maintain a steady schedule (How Bipolar Disoreder Affects Your Job, n.d). This is one of the biggest hurdles in the work life of someone with this disorder. However, even with all the ways to manage the disoreder it is still super hard for people living with bipolar disorder to get and keep. Finding the right job is hard due to things such as the stigma around the disorder, the accommodations needed, the struggle of keeping a schedule, or lack of motivation.
Some people argue that when managed with medication and or therapy Bipolar disorder practically goes away, and therefore it stops causing these issues in the lives of those living with it. However, this is simply not true, for medication can only manage symptoms of bipolar disorder not eliminate them. An article written by the Mayo Clinic Staff says, Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition. Treatment is directed at managing symptoms. This means that medication will not eliminate symptoms (Bipolar Disorder 2022). This means that even managed with medication bipolar disorder still causes the same symptoms just on a much smaller scale.
In final analysis, the strong symptoms that come with bipolar disorder cause many issues within peoples lives. The main aspects of peoples lives that are affected are relationships, sleep patterns, self esteem, and work life. The problems in these parts of life are usually cause by the strong manic and depressive episodes that basically control the everyday lives of those living with the disorder.
The unpredictable mood patterns of someone with bipolar disorder can have a severe effect on their relationships. The symptoms of mood changes can have a large effect on a person’s communication, a huge part of a relationships. These communication issues lead to many problems in their relationships. Maria Bastia stated this well when she said, “symptoms often associated with hypomania or mania such as distractibility, intrusive and domineering behavior may cause problems with communication…leading to feelings of being misunderstood, frustration, and conflict,” in an interview with Heinz C. Prechter bipolar research program from Michigan Medicine (Bipolar and Relationships, 2016). This is just one small example of the many ways bipolar disorder can affect the relationships of those living with it.
The strong depressive and manic episodes caused by bipolar disorder usually lead to trouble with sleep patterns like insomnia and hypersomnia. The episodes of hypersomnia or insomnia last as long if not longer than the manic and depressive episodes. In an article Dr Michael Murphy states, “In general, sleep is the first thing to go wrong and the last thing to get better (How Bipolar Disorder Affects Sleep,2022). These extreme uncontrollable changes in sleep patterns are not only annoying but cause problems in every day life. The issues caused by sleep patterns include lack of motivation, extreme fatigue, irritably, etc.
Due to the stigma around the disorder and thoughts during a depressive episode bipolar disorder can have a negative effect on a person’s self-esteem. During a depressive episode many people think that it is not their disorder causing issues in their life; instead they believe that there is something wrong with them as a person, or that they are messing everything up. In the book Madness: A Bipolar Life the author Marya Hornbacher says, “and then the horror sets in. All that time I wasn’t crazy; I was, in fact, crazy. It’s hopeless. I’m hopeless. Bipolar disorder. Manic depression. I’m sick. It’s true. It isn’t going to go away. All my life, I’ve thought that if I just worked hard enough, it would. I’ve always thought that if I just pulled myself together, I’d be a good person, a calm person, a person like everyone,” (2009). This describes how Hormbacher felt after getting her diagnosis. This is a great example of how people who are bipolar often feel about themselves and their disorder.
The work life and drive is a day to day change in someone with bipolar disorder due to the disorders effects on mood, concentration, and energy levels. Depending on the day and weather they are feeling manic or depressed, someone with bipolar disorders work drive is completely controlled by the disorder. In an article on how bipolar disorder affects your jobs the Joseph Raspolich states that, the nature of the disorder can make it difficult to maintain a steady schedule (How Bipolar Disoreder Affects Your Job, n.d). This is one of the biggest hurdles in the work life of someone with this disorder. However, even with all the ways to manage the disoreder it is still super hard for people living with bipolar disorder to get and keep. Finding the right job is hard due to things such as the stigma around the disorder, the accommodations needed, the struggle of keeping a schedule, or lack of motivation.
Some people argue that when managed with medication and or therapy Bipolar disorder practically goes away, and therefore it stops causing these issues in the lives of those living with it. However, this is simply not true, for medication can only manage symptoms of bipolar disorder not eliminate them. An article written by the Mayo Clinic Staff says, Bipolar disorder is a lifelong condition. Treatment is directed at managing symptoms. This means that medication will not eliminate symptoms (Bipolar Disorder 2022). This means that even managed with medication bipolar disorder still causes the same symptoms just on a much smaller scale.
In final analysis, the strong symptoms that come with bipolar disorder cause many issues within peoples lives. The main aspects of peoples lives that are affected are relationships, sleep patterns, self esteem, and work life. The problems in these parts of life are usually cause by the strong manic and depressive episodes that basically control the everyday lives of those living with the disorder.
Youth(s) First Name and Initial of Last Name
Chloe Mouser
Age Division
14
Category
Essay
County
Harrison
