Bipolar disorder
WHAT IS BIPOLAR DISORDER?
Bipolar disorder, sometimes referred to as manic depressive illness, is a severe brain disorder that affects between 1% and 5.5% of adults (by comparison, about 21% of women and 12% of men in the U.S will experience an episode of depression at some point in their lifetime).
Bipolar disorder affects men and women in equal percentages, and is usually diagnosed in early adulthood. Although the symptoms of bipolar disorder and their severity vary from patient to patient, the impact the disease on individuals and those around them is almost always significant.
The term bipolar disorder actually refers to two different disorders – bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder. Sometimes they are referred to as “bipolar spectrum disorder.”