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Everybody has changes in moods, or mood swings, from having days where we feel good to bad days where we feel depressed or down. Bipolar affective disorder is the extreme of these circumstances and is both debilitating and often very dangerous. Bipolar affective disorder has a number of disadvantages such as poor or broken down family relationships, loss of job and possibly self harm or suicide. it is possible for children to show the first symptoms of bipolar disease but it surfaces around late adolescence or early adulthood. Bipolar affective disorder is a disease and it should be treated as such by the patient, the patients network of family and friends and the doctors and psychiatrists that help with the treatment.

1- 1 percent of the American population suffer from bipolar affective disorder. That is roughly 2 million American adults. Yet it is still often misdiagnosed or simply not treated as a disease. It has to be taken very seriously by everyone concerned if the patient is to have a reasonable chance of recovery.

2- Bipolar affective disorder has a detrimental effect not only on the patient's life but also on the people around them. They will need the love and care of those closest to them in order to help them through both the good and the bad days and to ensure they take their medication on time every time.

3- Bipolar affective disorder can be effectively treated through a combination of mood stabilizer drugs and psychotherapy. It is important that the patient sees a psychiatrist in preference to a physician because while any doctor can prescribe the required medication only a psychiatrist can really help.

4- The most severe cases of bipolar affective disorder can lead to cases of self harm and even suicide if left unchecked. If you are under any suspicion that a patient or you are likely to try kill themselves then you should contact the emergency services immediately.

5- It is not possible to diagnose bipolar affective disorder physiologically, i.e. through a blood test or a scan or x-ray and the only real way to tell is through psychoevaluation and a judgment on any symptoms that have presented themselves. There are some physical symptoms but these can be attributed to a number of other diseases.