Bipolar Disorder

Overview

Mayo Clinic brings a compassionate and multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of bipolar disorder. Mayo Clinic specialists evalutate and care for more than 1,000 patients each year who have bipolar disorders, basing treatment on the needs of the patient. They treat people of all ages, on an outpatient or inpatient basis. Mayo Clinic in Rochester has a Mood Disorders Program to facilitate care of patients who have bipolar disorder. Mayo also conducts research to develop better treatments for patients.

Diagnosing Bipolar Disorder

In bipolar disorder people have extreme mood swings, including emotional highs (manias) and lows (depression). See bipolar disorder symptoms.

Mayo specialists are experts at identifying the signs and symptoms of bipolar disorder. An initial evaluation includes clinical interviews, a mental status exam, psychological tests and tracking patterns of symptoms. Read more about bipolar disorder diagnosis.

Treatment Options

With proper treatment, patients with bipolar disorder can live full and productive lives. A health care team, including a psychiatrist, sets and monitors goals for each patient. Medications such as lithium or other mood stabilizing drugs are key to successfully treating bipolar disorder. Psychotherapy is often used in conjunction with medication. Read more about bipolar disorder treatment.

Treatment in Jacksonville, Fla.

Treatment in Rochester, Minn.

About Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder, also called manic-depressive illness, is a mood disorder that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs (manias) and lows (depressions). In any given year, more than 2 million American adults (about 1 percent of the population 18 years and older) have bipolar disorder. In many cases, the disease begins prior to age 18. Early treatment has been shown to improve how patients fare later in life.

Bipolar disorder involves an imbalance of chemicals that regulate emotion. The imbalance is caused by a complex set of genetic and environmental factors that combine to disrupt the brain's chemistry. Researchers have identified at least four genes that are associated with bipolar disorder, but it is not known how environmental factors interact with these genes to cause the disorder.

The World Health Organization (WHO) ranked all major medical disorders in the world by the overall burden of disease, combining years of potential life lost to premature death and the years of productive life lost due to the disability produced by the condition. By this measure bipolar disorder was ranked the sixth most disabling illness.

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