Curated Video
What is Kleptomania? Is Part of Bipolar Disorder?
Kleptomania is an impulse control disorder that requires 5 criteria according to the Diagnostics and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition. 1. Recurrent failure to resist impulses to steal objects that are not needed for...
Curated Video
What Is Intermittent Explosive Disorder? Is It Just Being Angry?
What is intermittent explosive disorder and what we do about it? This video is based on a several viewer questions. Some of the questions were around distinguishing it from bipolar disorder. Others asked me to to talk about it because...
Curated Video
The Three Best Herbs To Fight Depression
Did you know that many medications are derived from plants? For example, salicin from willow bark is the basis for aspirin, and valeric acid from valerian root is chemically modified to make Valproic acid, which psychiatrists use to...
Curated Video
Medications You Don't Want to Take with Food - And Those You Do
Food has varying effects on your medications. They can Reduce how much of the medicine is absorbed, they can INCREASE how much is absorbed or they can delay when the medication is absorbed. Reduced absorption means you don't get as much...
Curated Video
Lithium vs. Antipsychotics: The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Lithium
Explore the journey of lithium, a game-changer in the late 1940s, as it transformed the treatment landscape for bipolar disorder. Join Dr. Tracey Marks, a dedicated psychiatrist, in this deep dive into the historical prominence of...
Curated Video
Hypersexuality in Bipolar Disorder - Why Does It Happen?
Bipolar hypersexuality is a common symptom during the manic phase. The hypersexuality symptoms can look like having sex outside of an exclusive relationship, sex with multiple partners or sex with strangers. But it doesn't have to mean...
Curated Video
Springtime Mania - 3 Ways to Prevent It
As we move from winter to spring into summer, we get longer days and more exposure to sunlight. As such, you may notice your mood ramping up. But it’s not how much light you're exposed to, it’s the rapid change in light that makes the...
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Rapid Cycling Bipolar and Ultra rapid Cycling and Ultradian. Why Does it Happen?
Rapid cycling is called a course specifier. It’s not a separate diagnosis, instead It used to describe the course of the illness. The rapid cycling specifier is added if you have 4 or more episodes of either depression, mania or...
Curated Video
Is Bipolar Disorder On The Rise?
Epidemiologic studies that look at prevalence rates estimate bipolar disorder to exist in about 2-4% of the US population. That's small compared to unipolar depression that's around 10 to 12%. The peak age of onset is between ages 20-30....
Curated Video
ADHD Vs Bipolar Disorder - How To Tell The Difference
With ADHD and bipolar disorder you can have trouble thinking, be hyperactive, feel disorganized etc. That’s how the symptoms overlap. This video I discussed how these two disorders can be distinguished from each other. I discuss how they...
Curated Video
Classic Bipolar vs Atypical Bipolar - How To Tell The Difference
Bipolar disorder can present in two very distinct ways. There is, a classic or textbook presentation and non-classic or atypical presentation. These are not official subtypes of bipolar disorder that you will find in the diagnostic...
Curated Video
Bipolar Disorder - Why One Medication May Not Work
Combination therapy is very common in bipolar disorder because different medications have different purposes. The medication that gets you better, may not be the same medication that keeps you better. Typically, people with bipolar...
Curated Video
Can you inherit bipolar disorder or depression?
The genetics with most illnesses do not follow Mendelian genetics. Mendelian genetics is what you learned in science class where you could predict a certain trait based on what traits your parents have. Bipolar disorder and depression...
Curated Video
Bipolar Disorder and the Imposter Syndrome
When you are feeling well, have you ever felt like your depression or mania was just a scam? This video is based on a viewer question asking about feeling like she is an imposter when she is in between episodes. I discuss three possible...
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Bipolar Disorder – What Does It Mean To Have a Predominant Polarity?
Did you know that about half the people with bipolar disorder, spend more time in one phase over the other and which phase that is can make a difference in how well you do? This video explains this pattern and how it can make a...
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Bipolar Disorder - When Not To Take Antidepressants
We generally do not use antidepressants in bipolar 1 disorder, because antidepressants are more likely to cause you to switch from depression into mania thereby triggering mania. Or it can cause you to rapid cycle. That is, you can have...
Curated Video
Bipolar 1 Disorder or Bipolar 2 Disorder - Which is Worse?
Bipolar disorder 1 vs 2, which is worse? There is a common misconception that bipolar 2 is a milder form of bipolar 1 and therefore probably less of a problem. This can lead to people feeling as though they don't need to get treatment if...
Curated Video
Do Depressed People Need More Sleep? How To Do Wake Therapy
Do depressed people need to sleep more? It would seem so, but when a depressed person stays awake, their depression resolves. The problem is it’s very temporary until the person goes back to sleep. Researchers have found that you can...
Curated Video
Dark Therapy for Bipolar Disorder - How and Why it Works
What is something you can do for your mania that doesn’t involve medication? I’ve talked in a previous video about using bright light therapy for bipolar disorder. But this would be for the depressed phase of the illness. You wouldn’t...
Curated Video
Cluster B personality disorders - Are They Actually Mental Illness?
Are personality disorders mental illness? A Personality disorder is a pattern of inner experience and behavior that deviates from the expectations of a person's culture. Although these patterns of behavior are considered disorders in the...
Curated Video
Can You Stop Your Bipolar Medication? – Maybe Here’s How
Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness that involves recurring episodes of depression and either hypomania or mania. It normally requires medication to treat the acute episodes as well as keep them from coming back once they...
Curated Video
Can You Have Bipolar Disorder + Borderline Personality? |Here’s Why It Matters
Can you have bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder at the same time? I've been asked this question several times and the answer is yes. In fact, some people will refer to this as borderpolar. This isn’t an official term...
Curated Video
Can You Be Too Old To Get Bipolar Disorder?
The typical age range that people develop bipolar disorder is between 20 and 40 years of age. In a video where I talk about how to tell the difference between major depression and bipolar disorder, I say that often times the symptoms of...
Curated Video
Can Too Much Hustle Make You Manic?
This video is based on a viewer question from Rena. It’s a long question that I’ve shortened. Here’s the gist: Rena feels she can’t do the things she used to do because of her bipolar illness. Essentially, she feels held back because she...