| DESCRIPTION |
Unlike unipolar depression, bipolar disorder affects men and women equally. And it tends to run in families. Also known as manic depression, this severe mental illness generally begins in late adolescence. BPD combines episodes of depression with mania, an elevated mood in which a person is highly energetic and prone to risk taking, poor judgment, and grandiose delusions. A patient in the grip of mania needs less sleep and tends to be irritable. If untreated, mania can develop into psychosis. As many as 20% of those with BPD who aren't treated take their lives, according to NIMH.
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