Voice 1
Hello. I’m Rachel Hobson.
Voice 2
And I’m Mike Procter. Welcome to Spotlight. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 3
“I was in the tenth year of school. I can remember being awake for days. And I was talking a lot. My mind was working all the time. My senses were completely alive. Life was beautiful. I had never felt so good. Then things went wrong. I thought I was able to see ‘energy’ in the air. It was real and I could touch it! I could see bright white and blue balls of energy. They were floating around my room.
“I tried to tell my friends about this. But they did not believe me. I wore strange clothes. I said strange words. I did things without thinking. I did not understand what was going on in my head. Neither did my friends or my teachers.
“Then one day I could not stop crying. The next day I felt sad and hurt. What had happened? Where did my energy go?”
Voice 1
These are the words of Juliet. She suffers from a serious medical sickness called bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder causes people to have intense emotions. At times they can be very happy. They have extreme amounts of energy. However, the energy is so great that their minds cannot rest. Often they do not sleep for days. These times of intense energy are called manic periods. In fact another name for this sickness is manic depression. During a manic time people may start to believe things that are not true. They may believe that they are a famous person. And they may believe that they can solve the world’s problems. Or they could have frightening thoughts. They may believe that other people are trying to hurt them. Some people even think that their family members want to kill them.
This ‘energy’ can be frightening. But it does have a good side. People say that it gives them creative ideas. These ideas help them with their work. In fact many artists and actors have bipolar disorder. Some of these artists believe that bipolar disorder makes them creative.
Voice 2
However, the period of energy is followed by a time of extreme depression. During this time bipolar sufferers sometimes want to kill themselves. Before, they had too much energy. Now, they do not have much energy at all. They may stay at home for days or months. They may not want see their friends or answer the telephone.
These times of extreme emotions may only happen every few years. People with bipolar disorder can have long periods of feeling normal. For this reason many people do not know that they have bipolar disorder. Because they do not know they have it, they are not able to treat it. Many people only discover that they have it when they are thirty or forty years old. The circle of energy and sadness greatly affects their lives. Some have lost their jobs, marriages and friends. This is why it is very important for sufferers to know that they have this sickness. It is also important for their families to know how to help them.
Voice 1
Specialist doctors can find out if someone has bipolar disorder through questions, psychiatric tests, and physical tests. But doctors do not fully know what causes it. They think that several processes work together to produce it - brain chemicals, genes and environment. They believe there is a problem with the chemical transmitters in the brain. These brain chemicals appear unbalanced. The brain cannot control the person’s emotions.
Voice 2
Doctors also believe that bipolar disorder is partly genetic. It can affect several people in the same family. But it is not usually caused by a single gene. And finally the environment a person grows up in is important. Doctors think that bipolar disorder may be partly caused by emotional pain - especially emotional pain that people experience as children.
The sickness usually develops when a child becomes a young adult. It may start with a stressful event like a divorce or a job loss. Or it may start with the use of illegal drugs.
Voice 1
There is no cure for bipolar disorder. But there are several kinds of medicine that can control it. The traditional medicine for bipolar disorder is lithium. Lithium helps to control both the high and the low emotions. But many people do not want to take lithium. It does help people with their sickness. But it causes side effects. The side effects trouble some people. For example, lithium can make people experience very few emotions. Some people do not even feel like the same person.
Also people must take lithium for a long time to keep their emotions calm. If they stop taking it they may become sick. Although there are some problems with lithium, it helps many people to deal with their sickness.
Voice 2
There are other medicines to treat bipolar patients. But many of these medicines also cause problems. So doctors often combine medicines. Combining medicines reduces some of the side effects. All the time, researchers are trying to find better medicines to treat bipolar disorder. One of these medicines is lamotrigene. In the past doctors used this medicine to treat epilepsy. Epilepsy is a medical condition that attacks body control. It seizes the body and produces disordered movements. Doctors believe epilepsy and bipolar disorder affect the electrical processes of the brain in a similar way. This means that some of the same medicines can treat both conditions.
Voice 1
However, there are many bipolar sufferers who do not take any medicine. They try to treat their sickness in natural ways. They try to avoid big changes in their lives. This helps them to remain calm. They do not drink coffee, tea or other drinks with caffeine. They do not smoke or take illegal drugs. These things make their sickness worse. And most importantly they eat a special diet. Their diet includes a lot of fish. But not just any fish. They need to eat the oily fish like salmon, sardines and mackerel. These fish have the substance Omega-3 fatty acids. This substance helps to control depression. In countries like Japan people eat a lot of fish. The number of people with severe depression in Japan is lower than in countries where people do not eat much fish.
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