Bipolar Disorders And Its Effects On Everyday Life

Ms. NS presented with a mood issue that affected many facets of her everyday life. This symptomatology presents the diagnostic possibility for Bipolar Disorders. Her staggering load of classes to keep her occupied while she also maintained extra curricular activities at school seems to be consistent with Criterion A of Manic Episode from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5, APA, 2000). Criterion A for Bipolar Disorders may be demonstrated in a form of irritability, which Ms. NS had been experiencing. In addition, her elevated level of activity is not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance, which would constitute Criterion D of Manic Episode. However, Ms. NS did not endorse or†¦show more content†¦NS is in fact depressed. In addition, Ms. NS reported symptoms of anxious distress, including feeling anxious or nervous (1), often feeling restless or irritable (2), fear of the worst happening (4), and worrying about th ings over and over. The phenomenon can meet the criteria listed for anxious distress specifier, moderate severity. Based on the history Ms. NS provided, it was not clear whether she had been experiencing the symptoms for the same 2-week period. This ambiguous length of her illness makes the longitudinal specification of her diagnosis challenging. Furthermore, the fact that she reported a loss of her grandmother and her friend at the same time around two years ago, it seems possible that her symptoms were prompted by those tragic events that occurred simultaneously, or the symptoms might have been escalated due to those events. If that may indeed the case, this could be considered one long, single episode of major depression. However, it also needs to be considered that her symptomatology may be merely the expression of distress in the context of bereavement. There is also a diagnostic possibility of Double Depression. It is essentially a major depressive episode superimposed on Dysthymia. This psychological condition would require that Ms. NS had a low-grade chronic depression and her current major depressive episode overlap each other. However, as stated earlier, the duration of her