Psychological Illness

Running head: BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR
Brain and Behavior
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1BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR
Introduction
Bipolar disorder refers to a psychological illness that is marked by extreme as well as
unusual shift in moods, activity level, concentration, energy level as well as one’s ability of
carrying out day-to-day tasks. There exists 3 types of bipolar disorders namely, Bipolar I
Disorder, Bipolar II Disorder and Cyclothymic Disorder and all of them include clear changes in
mood, activity and energy levels.
Bipolar I is characterized by maniac episodes of at least 7 days and the maniac symptoms
gets so severe that individuals needs to get admitted on an emergency basis (Lesh et al., 2018).
When it comes to Bipolar II disorder, it symptom includes depressive as well as hypomaniac
episodes , but not the full-blown manic episodes like the former one. Symptoms of Cyclothymic
Disorder include periods of hypomanic symptoms and depressive symptoms lasting for at least 2
years. Considering the fact that the symptoms and signs of Bipolar disorder varies and many of
the symptoms may be caused by other conditions, it is highly difficult to diagnose bipolar
disorder, Hence, a multi-step method is used by physicians to diagnose the disease. The first
step of diagnosis generally includes ruling out other condition with the help of certain tests like
the thyroid function test. After being sure of the fact that mania and depression the patient is
going through is not as a result of any other health issues, a mental health evaluation is done.
This process generally includes open ended interview with the patients.
Neurological effects of Bipolar disorder
According to researchers, the neural basis of bipolar disorder is still to be understood
(Stahl et al., 2019). However, patients suffering from bipolar disorder are found to exhibit
enlarged ventricles when their brains have been scanned. This change is quite similar to that of

2BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR
schizophrenia. It has been observed that the more manic episodes an individual have
experienced, the more enlarged is his ventricle. Therefore, this neurological effect suggests a risk
of brain loss in extreme cases of Bipolar disorder.
According to Goldsmith, Rapaport and Miller (2016), the neurological changes
associated with Bipolar disorder depicts that this psychological issues has several common
aspects with Schizophrenia compared to unipolar disorder. For instance the extreme talkative
behaviour of individuals in the maniac phase of the bipolar disorder possess high resemblance
with delusions seen by an individual suffering from Schizophernia. Hence the older term used
for Bipolar disorder that is maniac depression has now been abandoned. Along with this, bipolar
disorder is more likely to happen in families who possess history of Schizophernia. It is also
becoming clear that environmental and behavioral issues influence the severity of the condition.
Stressful life experiences – or drug or alcohol misuse – may make it more difficult to handle
bipolar disorder.
According to Hibar et al. (2018), a fundamental concern with particular brain pathways
and brain chemicals called neurotransmitters are partially responsible for bipolar disorder. For
brain and body activity, there are three brain chemicals, noradrenaline (norepinephrine),
sérotonin and dopamine. Noradrenaline and serotonin have also been linked of clinical
discontinuities such as bipolar disorder and depression. Dopamine controls nerve receptors
within regions of the brain that govern enjoyable and emotional reward. Disruption of circuits
which gets communicated with the help of dopamine in other areas of the brain is found to be
connected with psychosis as well as schizophrenia, a major mental disorder that is characterized
by distortions in reality along with illogical thought patterns as well as behaviors. The chemical
serotonin of the brain is related to various body functions including sleep, relaxation, feeding,