Mental and Social Health Commons^™

Understanding Bipolar Disorder, Tisha Perreira

Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN)

According to McCance, Huether, and Brashers (2014), bipolar disorder is classified as bipolar I and bipolar II mood disorder. Bipolar I disorder, causes extreme mood swings of mania or hypomania (emotional highs) or emotional lows (depression). Manic disorder symptoms include: excessive risky activities, irritable mood, elevated mood, distractibility, excessive talking, inflated self-esteem, racing/crowded thoughts, decreased need for sleep, and increase in goal-directed activity. Symptoms of depression include: loss of interest/pleasure, weight gain or loss, fatigue/loss of energy, feeling of worthlessness or excessive guilt, depressed/irritable mood, recent thoughts of death/suicide, insomnia/or hypersomnia, poor concentration/indecisiveness, and psychomotor agitation. Bipolar II disorder has …