Manic Depressive / Bi-Polar Disorder

People with bi-polar illness are different from those with other depressive disorders. Unlike major depression, which can occur at any age, manic-depressive illness generally strikes before the age of 35. Victims suffer from moods that swing from debilitating depression to euphoric mania generally with periods of normalcy in between the two extremes.

Symptoms:

  1. Manic phase - Moods that seem excessively good, euphoric, or irritable. Teens often show persistent excessive anger. Individuals with this disorder may feel "on top of the world", and even horrifying news will not change his or her happiness. Self-confidence reaches the point of grandiose delusions. As a result he/she may thing they can step out of a moving car without being hurt. There is a flight of ideas racing through the victim's head, and often times speech becomes fast and loud. In this phase the person may need little or no sleep for weeks at a time.
  2. Depressive phase - This has the same symptoms of major depression such as feelings of worthlessness, hopelessness, prolonged sadness - crying spells, and thoughts of death or suicide. Sometimes the person may stay in bed for weeks at a time.

Resources

DEPRESSED TEENS
www.depressedteens.com

DEPRESSION/Awareness, Recognition, Treatment (D/ART)
5600 Fishers Lane, Room 10-85 Parklawn Building
Rockville, MD 20857
(301) 443-4140
www.nimh.nih.gov/dart

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI)
Colonial Place Three
2107 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22201-3042
(703) 524-7600
(703) 516-7227 TDD
www.nami.org

Depression and Bi-Polar Support Alliance
730 N. Franklin Street, Suite 501
Chicago, IL 60610-7224
(312) 642-0049
(800) 826-3632
www.dbsalliance.org

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Office of Communications
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 8184, MSC 9663
Bethesda, MD 20892-9663
(301) 443-4513
(866) 615-NIMH (6464) Toll Free
(301) 443-8431 TTY
Email: nimhinfo@nih.gov
www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/bipolarmenu.cfm

American Psychiatric Association (APA)
1000 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 1825
Arlington, VA 22209-3901
(703) 907-7300
www.psych.org/index.cfm

American Psychological Association
750 1st Street, NE
Washington, DC 20002-4242
(202) 336-5510
(800) 374-2721 Toll Free
www.apa.org

Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation
1187 Wilmette Ave
PMB 331
Wilmette, IL 60091
(847) 256-8525
www.bpkids.org

Depression and Related Affective Disorders Association (DRADA)
2330 West Joppa Road, Suite 100
Lutherville, MD 21093
(410) 583-2919
Email: drada@jhmi.edu
www.drada.org

National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD)
60 Cutter Mill Road, Suite 404
Great Neck, NY 11021
(516) 829-0091
(800) 829-8289 Toll Free
Email: info@narsad.org
www.narsad.org

National Foundation for Depressive Illness, Inc. (NAFDI)
PO Box 2257
New York, NY 10116
(800) 239-1265 Toll Free
www.depression.org

National Mental Health Association (NMHA)
2001 N. Beauregard Street, 12th Floor
Alexandria, VA 22311
(703) 684-7722
(800) 969-NMHA (6642) Mental Health Resource Center
(800) 433-5959 TTY
(800) SUICIDE (784-2433) National Hopeline Network - 24 hour crisis center
www.nmha.org