In psychiatry, bipolar syndrome is a kind of medical finding which refers to depressed mood along with a mixed state or hypomania. When compared with people who are normal, people suffering from bipolar depression have mood swings which might range from a few minutes to even a few months. Such people are prone to attempt suicide at any given chance and are equally associated with distress and disruption. Bipolar syndrome is many times linked to extreme functioning and many creative people attribute their creativity to this ailment.

Bipolar disorder is further classified into Type I and Type II. In case of Type I disorder, the affected person is most likely to experience full-blown mania. In case of the Type II ailment, the ‘highs’ of the affected individual do not exceed the hypomania stage unless it was set off by such medications. During such manic periods, psychosis may arise. Rapid cycling can also take place. The extent to which a person may get affected because of such disorder varies from individual to individual and from time to time. Thus, the bipolar spectrum concept is put to use generally and it includes cyclothymia too.

The bipolar ailment is characterized by periods of abnormally disconcerted moods which often lead to the individual feeling depressed. The moderation and the period of such depression also vary from one affected individual to the other. Such fluctuation of mood can cause either improvement in the functioning or an impairment which hugely depends on the severity of the lows and highs of the mood swing. The affected normal routine is also affected due to the alteration in social rhythm, energy level, cognitive functioning, pattern of sleep, and activity level of the person.

The depression which is gone through by people affected with the bipolar depression is quiet similar to that experienced by people suffering from clinical depression. The various symptoms includes sadness, anger, anxiety, guilt, isolation, lack of self confidence, sleep and appetite disturbances, escapism, fatigue, disinterest in things which the person used to enjoy, apathy, shyness, self loathing, irritability, chronic pain, social anxiety, and suicidal tendency.

The most brutal problem an individual faces in today’s world is the period of bipolar depression. Many times the period of such a depression becomes very obvious to people around and is very upsetting.

Certain types of serious depression are supplemented by the symptoms of psychosis. It may consist of delusions (beliefs which are false and cannot be proved or explained with any sort of evidence), hallucinations (hearing, sensing or seeing things which do not really exist), and escapism (finding and making excuses to break out off from apparent stress and unpleasant situations).

People who are so affected may also have the belief that a very powerful body is controlling and hunting them. Many of them may even have the feeling that people who are very close to them are bullying and plotting against them. Many times the anxiety level increases without any reason. They start feeling left out and isolated from near and dear ones. Many people tend to believe in unusual religious sentiments and start thinking that they have supernatural powers and have been born to accomplish a specific task. Delusions are even worse. They generally arise out of the guilt of doing something which must have affected the life of some other person. Many other such contradicting theories have also been associated with the factors triggering bipolar depression. However, none of them has been widely accepted as being perfect.

The basic nature of bipolar depression is flux. It is a state of mind whereby the affected individual is totally immersed in what they are doing. There is complete involvement, absolute focus and success during the activity period. The indicators of bipolar depression are energy, sleep, mood, thought, and activity. The diagnostic subtypes are many times just a sample preview of the continual changes which take place during the ailment period.

In the opinion of the United States National Institute of Mental Health (US NIMH), there is no particular or specific reason for such an ailment. Nevertheless, a number of factors cause such an ailment when combined together. It has also been found that such a disorder runs through the family. Hence researchers are looking for the particular gene. However, most of these researches has ended up proving that more than one gene is responsible for the ailment.