THE '22 TIMES

Mood disorders are a category of illnesses that describe a serious change in mood. Though many different subtypes are recognized, three major states of mood disorders exist: depressive, manic, and bipolar. Bipolar disorder previously referred to as manic depression is a multifactorial illness with uncertain aetiology. It is a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs like depression and mania. The cycling between both depressed and manic moods is what characterises bipolar mood disorder. Epidemiology Epidemiological studies have suggested a lifetime prevalence of around 1% for bipolar type I in the general population. A large cross-sectional survey of 11 countries found the overall lifetime prevalence of bipolar spectrum disorders was 2.4%, with a prevalence of 0.6% for bipolar type I and 0.4% for bipolar type II. There are several types of bipolar and related disorders including cyclothymic disorder but the two types of bipo