Most people have ups and downs in their moods: days when they feel good and others when they feel down. If you have bipolar disorder, your mood swings much further than other people's. Sometimes, you might feel very "high" and have lots of energy. That is called mania. Other times you might feel very low. That is called bipolar depression.

Both mania and bipolar depression can last for weeks at a time. They get in the way of your daily life. They make it hard to study and work. And, they can put a big strain on your relationships with your family, friends and partners.

But, in between the mania and the depression, you may have times when you're in a normal, stable mood. That stable mood can last for weeks, months or even years.

Bipolar disorder is also called manic depression and bipolar affective disorder.

Your brain is made up of lots of nerve cells. These cells send messages to each other using chemicals. These chemicals are called

 

 

 

 

 

neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters are chemicals that help to carry messages between nerve cells. Serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline are all neurotransmitters.

 

 

 

 

 

neurotransmitters. There are several different ones. For your brain to work properly, the levels of these chemicals needs to be right.

We don't know exactly how your brain affects your mood. And, we don't know what goes wrong within your brain if you have bipolar disorder. But, doctors and researchers have some ideas.

One idea is that, if you have bipolar disorder, you have problems with the levels of neurotransmitters in your brain. This might cause your mood swings.

People who are depressed have lower levels of certain neurotransmitters than people who are not depressed. For example, they may have lower levels of the ones called dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. Treatments to increase levels of serotonin work for depression.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Müller-Oerlinghausen B, Berghöfer A, Bauer M.
Bipolar disorder.
Lancet. 2002; 359: 241-247.

 

 

 

 

 

¹ For more information, see our articles on Depression.

Researchers have found some other differences between the brains of people with bipolar disorder and the brains of other people. But we don't know for certain that these differences cause bipolar disorder. Brain scans show that some people with bipolar disorder have slightly different brains than people without bipolar disorder.

Your

 

 

 

 

 

hormones
Hormones are chemicals that are made in certain parts of the body. They travel through the bloodstream and have an effect on other parts of the body. For example, the female sex hormone estrogen is made in a woman's ovaries. Estrogen has many different effects on a woman's body. It makes the breasts grow at puberty and helps control periods. It is also needed to get pregnant.

 

 

 

 

 

hormones can affect your mood. One hormone called

 

 

 

 

 

adrenaline
Adrenaline is a chemical that makes your heart race and makes you feel alert. It is sometimes called the "fight-or-flight" hormone.

 

 

 

 

 

adrenaline goes up when you are under stress. This one may especially affect your mood. Your

 

 

 

 

 

thyroid gland
Your thyroid gland is a small organ that sits in your neck, just in front of your windpipe. It sends out a hormone called thyroxine. This acts on receptors within cells. By acting on the receptors it gives the cells a message to speed up their metabolism and work harder.

 

 

 

 

 

thyroid gland also makes hormones. If your levels of these get too high or too low, it can affect your mood, too.

But, we can't say for sure what causes bipolar disorder.

If your doctor has told you that you have bipolar disorder, you will have had at least one bout of very high mood (mania). Doctors call these bouts manic episodes.

Most people also have at least one bout of very low mood. That is known as depression. When it happens as part of bipolar disorder, it is known as bipolar depression.

People with bipolar disorder have a low mood much more of the time than they have mania.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Judd LL, Akiskal HS, Schettler PJ, et al.
The long-term natural history of the weekly symptomatic status of bipolar I disorder.
Archives of General Psychiatry. 2002; 59: 530-537.

 

 

 

 

 

²

There are two basic types of bipolar disorder. They are called bipolar type 1 disorder and bipolar type 2 disorder. Type 1 is more serious.

Having bipolar disorder can make you feel alone. It can be hard to explain to other people why you feel so down or why your life is getting out of control. So, it can be lonely.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Johnstone SG.
My bipolar expedition.
BMJ. 2006; 332: 30-32.

 

 

 

 

 

³ You may want to share the information here with your friends and family. It might help them understand what you are going through.

We don't know for sure what causes bipolar disorder. The main thing that seems to mean you are more likely to get it is having a close relative with bipolar disorder. The condition seems to run in families. But not everyone who has close relatives with bipolar disorder gets it themselves.

We know that:

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Müller-Oerlinghausen B, Berghöfer A, Bauer M.
Bipolar disorder.
Lancet. 2002; 359: 241-247.

 

 

 

 

 

¹

These numbers tell us that your

 

 

 

 

 

genes
Your genes are the parts of your cells that contain instructions for how your body works. Genes are housed on chromosomes, structures that sit in the nucleus at the middle of each of your cells. You have 23 pairs of chromosomes in your normal cells, each of which has thousands of genes. You get one set of chromosomes, and all of the genes that are on them, from each of your parents.

 

 

 

 

 

genes seem to play an important part in whether you get bipolar disorder. But, doctors think that events in your life can also affect whether you get bipolar disorder. For some people, certain experiences seem to bring on the first symptoms of bipolar disorder. Or, if you already have bipolar disorder but you are not having symptoms, experiences in your life may make your symptoms come back. When that happens, it is called a relapse.

Here are some experiences that can trigger a relapse of bipolar disorder.

If you are a woman with bipolar disorder, having a baby can set off a relapse of your symptoms. Also, if you are prone to a condition called psychosis, giving birth can sometimes bring it on.

 

 

 

 

 

Source:
Terp IM, Mortensen PB.
Post-partum psychoses: clinical diagnoses and relative risk of admission after parturition.
British Journal of Psychiatry. 1998; 172: 521-526.

 

 

 

 

 

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