Thousands of Canadians deal with bipolar disorder every day, and it can be a devastating problem for them. Constantly dealing with fluctuating moods – especially for someone who is not getting treatment or whose bipolar depression drugs aren’t doing what they should be doing. If you are struggling with bipolar depression, you probably want to actually know the causes of bipolar depression.
Bipolar disorder is a severe mood disorder that is characterized by fluctuating moods. Someone will experience great highs – known as manic episodes – that has their mood elevated for no reason. However, some people not only experience great highs they also experience great lows – their mood drops for no apparent reason. (Some people do not experience these lows). There are actually subtypes of bipolar disorder as well which explains why things are different for some people.
Just like the type of disorder is different for some people the causes of bipolar depression can be different in everyone who has it. Many studies have been done to determine the causes of bipolar depression and it has been discovered that many different factors can play in part in someone having bipolar disorder.
There is some evidence suggesting that one of the causes of bipolar depression has something to do with a person’s genes although data has been inconsistent. Things like advanced parental age has been identified as a possible cause of bipolar depression for instance. There’s also evidence that genes related to serotonin or dopamine may also be a cause of bipolar depression.
In addition to genetic mutations being one of the causes of bipolar depression, studies have also shown that children who go on to be diagnosed also show early signs of the disorder – they often suffer from irritability or hypersensitivity. Some doctors also believe that the use of stimulants in childhood is one of the causes of bipolar depression.
There is also a lot of evidence to suggest that some of the causes of bipolar depression are actually environmental. They believe some people are genetically predisposed to the disorder and then something occurs in their life which triggers it. As many as half of the people diagnosed with bipolar depression were abused as children, leading some to consider that a cause of bipolar depression. Children who experienced some other form of trauma also have a high probability of being diagnosed later on.
The causes of bipolar depression vary from person to person but luckily they can get treatment.