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An estimated 4.4% of Americans experience bipolar disorder at some point in their life. That is, in the midst of 100 people, there's a good chance about 4 of them must have experienced, are experiencing, or will experience bipolar disorder. It's quite a worrisome number, given how those manic and depressive orders can make life sometimes -- well, unbearable.
As the name suggests, people with bipolar disorder experience alternating extremes of two opposing emotions, depression and excitement. The excitement can be elation or even anger.
A person with bipolar disorder can get bursts of energy and overwhelming joy at this moment and fall into a huge bout of depression soon after. However, the experience is unique to every individual. No two people will have identical experiences.
Unfortunately, the cause and cure of bipolar disorder are unknown. People are just born with it. But the good thing is a person with BD can still have a high quality of life with the right treatment and coping techniques, which we will discuss shortly.
But before going into the coping techniques of bipolar disorder, let's see something interesting: how does this mental illness affect the brain?
Scientists have discovered abnormal changes over time in the brains of people living with bipolar disorder.
The finding is contained in a study published by Elsevier in Biological Psychiatry. The researchers collected MRI and detailed clinical data from 307 people with bipolar disorder and a control group of healthy individuals.
Notably, those who had more manic episodes had their cortex thinned considerably over time. The cortex of participants who experienced no manic episodes had no thinning.
Surprisingly, the changes were most evident within the prefrontal cortex which regulates emotions and executive control. This may be the reason why bipolar disorder worsens over time.
However, in patients who used medication containing lithium, their prefrontal cortex didn't thin significantly over the years. The thinning was even much slower than in healthy people. That's because of lithium's neuroprotective ability.
Hence, lithium is highly recommended if you're living with bipolar disorder.