Xiao Ding, who has been at the top of the school academic performance, has recently been very distressed, often unable to concentrate, no motivation for learning, no interest in anything, always suspecting that classmates are talking about him behind his back, often mood ups and downs within a day, throwing tantrums for no reason, and even not sleeping all day, you can also sleep all day... After the teacher learned about the situation, he quickly notified the parents to take them to the Hunan Provincial Brain Hospital (Hunan Second People's Hospital) for pediatric and adolescent psychology diagnosis and treatment.
Xiao Ding, what is wrong with this? It turned out that it was the bipolar obstacle that found him! Bipolar disorder, also known as bipolar disorder, is a clinical subtype of mood disorder that refers to a type of mood disorder that has both manic and depressive episodes.
Dr. Chen Xi of the Department of Pediatric Psychology of Hunan Brain Hospital (Hunan Second People's Hospital) pointed out that bipolar disorder is one of the common diseases in psychiatric clinics, especially bipolar disorder that occurs in childhood or adolescence is more worthy of attention, compared with adults, they have the characteristics of easy recurrence, social dysfunction, suicide and comorbidity rate.
So how do we identify if a child is sick or not? The following are the clinical manifestations of bipolar disorder:
The onset of the disease is earlier, and it is mostly onset in adolescence.
The typical form is alternating with mania and depression, with manic episodes and depressive episodes in no fixed order, and the length of the interval period varies from a few months to several years, or it can be mixed, and the intermittent mental state can be completely normal.
Episodes of mania or hypomania begin with a rapid onset of the disease, with a natural course of weeks to months, with an average of 3 months; the onset of depressive episodes is relatively slow, with a natural course of 6 months to a year, with an average of 9 months.
In a manic episode, it is possible to sleep less and not get tired, talk quickly and talk about many different things at the same time, be easily distracted, appear unusually happy, talk about sex or show sexual behavior, participate in risk-taking behaviors that are not normal for them, etc.; in depressive episodes, appear irritable, irritable, can not feel happy, fatigue or poor energy, decreased appetite, lack of interest in things that were liked in the past, lack of concentration, crying for no reason, aggravation of negative emotions, sense of worthlessness or guilt, etc. Psychotic symptoms may also occur in severe cases.
Bipolar disorder is usually a repetitive, alternating course of mania and depression, but can also be present in a mixed manner. There are three highs of manic episodes - high mood, rushing thinking, and increased activity; there are three lows of depressive episodes - low mood, slow thinking, and decreased activity.
Dr. Chen Xi reminded that to prevent the onset of bipolar disorder, we should focus on mental health care and genetic counseling for high-risk groups, effectively prevent the intrusion of external factors, and is an effective way to reduce the occurrence of psychological disorders related to various stresses. Our lifestyles and daily habits have a significant impact on mood changes, and see if the following methods can be used to help ourselves and our children:
Acquire knowledge. Learn as much as you can about bipolar disorder. The more you know, the greater the help in recovery from the disease.
Reduce stress. Avoid a high-stress environment, maintain a healthy study-work-life balance, and try some relaxation methods such as meditation, yoga, deep breathing, etc.
Ask for support. Being able to ask for help and get encouragement is important to us. Try joining a support group or connecting with friends you can trust.
Make healthy choices. Healthy sleep, diet and exercise habits can help stabilize mood. It is especially important to maintain regular sleep.
Monitor mood. Keep track of the symptoms and observe signs that your emotions are about to turn out of control so you can stop the problem before it starts.
Contributed by: Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Psychology, Second People's Hospital of Hunan Province
Editor: Liu Yuchen
Image: From the Internet, intrusion and deletion