Bipolar

I am not trained in bipolar disorder. It's the work of psychiatrists but I do understand what bipolar is and have seen it's effect on people. I remember this particular friend of mine's email, complaining about her state of mind. She was feeling depressed and lonely and couldn't understand why she's feeling that way. Suspecting that she was going through menopause, I suggested going to see a doctor. Living overseas alone, I guess, makes it difficult for her to deal with it by herself. I didn't receive any news after that and thought everything is OK. I was wrong.
When she came back to Malaysia to visit her family, she stopped at my house in PJ and told me that she has been diagnosed suffering from bipolar disorder and currently under treatment. In many ways she's lucky working and living in UK where she has access to medical treatment under the National Health System.
Bipolar disorder was formerly known as manic depression and many associate it only as depression. But there is another side of depression, that's the mania behaviour which is not really recognize and being taken seriously. Hipomania is a less severe than mania. Bipolar goes through serious mood swings - from feeling on top of the world (mania) to going right to the bottom of depression. Everybody, some time or other, goes through 'on' and 'off' days but we go back to normal behaviour soon enough. Bipolar individuals suffer these extreme mood swings for days and eventually they form a pattern. Fortunately Bipolar disorder is treatable.
Sometimes bipolar depression can create problem at work and at home. Depression makes the person isolate him/herself, tardy or not turn up at work, feeling lethargic or they stay in bed all day. Unfortunately, bosses, co-workers, friends and family members do not understand that this is a mental health issue and may accuse the individual as lazy. In extreme case, bipolar depression may cause negative thought and action, such as having suicidal thought and attempting to hurt self. A bipolar disorder also can be in mania state ie extreme high mood behaviour and may create negative outcome which are regrettable such as impulsive spending and getting into excessive debt, involved in unprotected sex with multiple partners, taking risky actions, work with no sleep or having excessive happiness and laughter. Usually people pay more attention to depression because the feeling is unpleasant but mania behaviour is dismissed because of the good feeling associated with it even though it is excessive.
Usually bipolar disorder is shown by several symptoms such as disturbed sleep patterns, energy level - very low or very high, alcohol or drug use, sex drive - increased or depleted, self-esteem goes rock bottom and concentration is very poor. There are also triggers for bipolar if they suffer long stress or on mania state at work.
My friend is aware of her illness and she surrounds herself with friends for support. Being a sociable being, she makes friends easily and some are faithful to her, taking care of her when she is ill. Since her 2 daughters are away working, she relies on friends and medical team to get her through. I saw how her neighbour cares for her and helps her to find her ways back to health. When I was with her, I felt tired just looking at her non-stop activities and high energy. She was in her mania mood though not excessive. When we left her, she wrote that she was in depressed mood but later got herself out of it. I was quite concerned and kept in touch. Because of awareness, support group and availability of medical services, she is well taken care of. Malaysia needs this kind of service to help those suffering from mental health issues.