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Depression: Manic Depression
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Depression is a complicated illness characterised by persistent feelings of sadness or an inability to enjoy usual activities. There are many different disorders that have depression as a key clinical component, including major depression, bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness), dysthymic disorder, cyclothymic disorder, postnatal depression and seasonal affective disorder.
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Depression can take several other forms. In bipolar disorder, sometimes called manic-depressive illness, a person’s mood swings back and forth between depression and mania. People with seasonal affective disorder typically suffer from depression only during autumn and winter, when there are fewer hours of daylight. In dysthymia (pronounced dis-THI-mee-uh), people feel depressed, have low self-esteem, and concentrate poorly most of the time—often for a period of years—but their symptoms are milder than in major depression. Some people with dysthymia experience occasional episodes of major depression. Mental health professionals use the term clinical depression to refer to any of the above forms of depression.
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Depression with Psychotic Features – Some people with major depressive or manic episodes may experience psychotic features. They may be presented with hallucinations or delusions that are either mood-congruent (content coincident with depressive themes) or non-mood-congruent (content not coincident with depressive themes). It is clinically more common to encounter a delusional system as an adjunct to depression than to encounter hallucinations, whether visual or auditory.
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Bipolar disorder... known as manic depression is an illness marked by extreme changes in mood, thought, energy and behavior in which a person's mood can alternate between the "poles" of mania and depression. Bipolar disorder affects more than two million adults in the United States and is usually diagnosed in late adolescence or early adulthood. Bipolar disorder is a chronic illness associated with substantial morbidity and mortality, ranking worldwide behind only unipolar depression and alcohol abuse among psychiatric illnesses for related disabilities and overall economic burden of illness. The lifetime financial burden of bipolar disorder in the United States is about $625,000 per patient, depending on resistance to treatment and persistence of symptoms. Although lithium and anticonvulsants such as valproic acid have substantially improved the prognosis of bipolar disorder, many individuals are unable to tolerate treatment-related side effects, and incomplete clinical response, relapse, and recurrence remain common clinical problems.
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[One] type of depression is bipolar disorder... called manic-depressive illness. Not nearly as prevalent as other forms of depressive disorders, bipolar disorder is characterized by cycling mood changes: severe highs (mania) and lows (depression). Sometimes the mood switches are dramatic and rapid, but most often they are gradual. When in the depressed cycle, an individual can have any or all of the symptoms of a depressive disorder. When in the manic cycle, the individual may be overactive, overtalkative, and have a great deal of energy. Mania often affects thinking, judgment, and social behavior in ways that cause serious problems and embarrassment.
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In trials by American psychiatrists, this herb had been found useful for the treatment of manic depression, alcoholic paranoia, and schizophrenia. Up to 4 capsules were given daily, in between meals, for 45-60 days with very good results. This herb was given to 30 mental patients suffering from anxiety neurosis in doses of 40 ml/day. (in two equally divided doses.) for one month. At the end of the month, most of the anxiety disorders, panic attacks and similar mood phobias, had disappeared.
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Manic Depression