Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder:

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive disorder, is characterized by mood swings. It is a chronic and significant illness characterized by mood swings, known as manics, or mood swings, known as depression. The severity and symptoms can vary from very mild to very severe.

For many people, the symptoms seen when they are manic generally include:

They become very cheerful and incredibly positive, exhibiting excessive self-confidence.

They may experience mood swings. Their speech becomes rapid, their thoughts come quickly, they become agitated, and there may be a significant increase in their daily physical activity.

Their decision-making abilities are significantly impaired.

They may take dangerous risks that would not normally be possible, and engage in dangerous behaviors.

Their sleep is disturbed; they have difficulty falling asleep and are easily distracted.

Their concentration is significantly impaired.

They may experience a very high degree of restlessness.

Manic Depression (Bipolar Disorder):

In manic depression, the patient experiences mood swings. While depressed, they suddenly experience episodes that we call hypomanic. These episodes can last for a few hours, days, or weeks. During this period, completely contrary to depression, they have high energy levels that allow them to do much more than they could while depressed; they may even start experiencing insomnia and feel very energetic the next day, their sexual energy increases significantly, they become very talkative, and they may make impulsive purchases and spend money. Their thoughts start to come very quickly; they may start another task before finishing the first one. They may enter an acute manic episode and become detached from reality, exhibiting hallucinations and thought disorders, and becoming very aggressive. They may need to be hospitalized.

When They Become Depressed:

They may experience persistent, unchanging sadness, anxiety, guilt, and hopelessness.

Sleep is disrupted and appetite irregularities may begin.

Weakness occurs and they may lose interest in daily activities.

Concentration problems may occur.

Recurrent suicidal thoughts may begin.

 

Causes of Bipolar Disorder:
It is still a subject of research, but scientific studies are focusing more on genetic and environmental factors. Perhaps the abnormal gene negatively affects brain chemistry; recent studies have also shown electrical irregularities in the brain. Since the disease occurs in episodes, factors affecting it have been shown to be stress or drug addiction.

Risk factors for developing bipolar disorder:
The most important among them is having a family history. It has been observed that 60% of manic-depressive patients have a family history of the condition. If both parents are bipolar, their child has a 70% risk of also being bipolar.

Bipolar Diagnosis:

The illness is often not noticed by individuals and is usually discovered during a doctor's visit.

Of course, it is necessary to differentiate between other illnesses that cause similar symptoms to bipolar disorder:

Some of these include: Schizophrenia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, borderline personality disorder, head trauma (with or without loss of consciousness), alcohol and drug use, and thyroid diseases.

Furthermore, some medications can also produce the same symptoms. Corticosteroids, especially prednisone, antidepressants, medications used to treat anxiety, medications used to treat Parkinson's disease, and some medications used for the flu or other conditions. Vitamin B-12 deficiency can also create a similar picture.

Bipolar Neurofeedback Treatment:
While medication and psychotherapy are the main treatment methods for bipolar disorder, neurofeedback has recently begun to be used in these patients, especially in the USA. We also have patients in our center whom we have helped with neurofeedback.

So, how can we make a differential diagnosis besides taking a very detailed history of the patient?

In fact, misdiagnosis often occurs while taking the patient's history. Firstly, you can also discuss the symptoms with the family; the family may provide answers that the patient doesn't give.

QEEG Database in Bipolar Diagnosis:
Furthermore, with the QEEG (Digital EEG) method, a very new system in Turkey but used for many years in America, and the Data Bank method, which was developed as a result of 20 years of research by New York University and approved by the FDA in 1998, Depression and Manic Depression can be diagnosed with a margin of error of 6 to 10 percent. Of course, diagnosis should be made based on clinical findings, digital EEG and data bank analysis results, and the clinician's decision.

Many cases who applied to our center had been receiving treatment for depression for years, but some did not respond to treatment. These patients learned they had manic depression after undergoing digital EEG and data bank analysis.

Some patients developed depression or other symptoms after experiencing head trauma.

They present with symptoms similar to manic depression, or the illnesses appear secondarily. A QEEG-Data Bank analysis can determine if the patient has experienced a head trauma.

 

Often, electrical changes in the brain that don't show up on a classic EEG are linked to head trauma on QEEG recordings, and this is why they don't respond to medication. Thus, we determine whether the patient's depression or manic depression is due to a primary cause or a secondary cause arising from head trauma.