Understand this subtle and important difference between unipolar and bipolar depression.

In this fast-paced modern life, stress, anxiety and mental health problems are becoming a part of every second person’s life, and often we call any kind of sadness or mental fatigue with just one word ‘depression’. But did you know that not all depression is the same and there are many different types and forms of it, with ‘unipolar depression’ and ‘bipolar depression’ being the most prominent and serious categories? Many people consider these two mental disorders to be the same, whereas according to medical science and well-known psychiatrists, the nature of both, their symptoms and the way to treat them are completely different from each other. If you or someone you love is struggling with problems like mood swings, extreme sadness or severe lack of energy for a long time, then it is very important to understand the basic difference between these two so that you can get the right medical help at the right time.

Unipolar depression, colloquially known as ‘clinical depression’ or major depressive disorder, is a mental health condition in which a person experiences periods of deep sadness, despair, and sadness over a sustained period of time. The biggest feature of this condition is that the person’s mood always remains in a negative direction and he does not feel pleasure or interest in anything in life, which is called anhedonia in medical language. A person suffering from unipolar depression often faces problems like extreme fatigue, excessive hunger or no appetite, severe sleep disturbances, difficulty in concentrating and sometimes negative thoughts come to the mind. In this, there is never a phase of ‘mania’ or excessive excitement of mood, rather the person continuously remains in the same depressed phase or one-sided mental state, the main reason for which can be genetic, biological or some deep trauma of life.

On the other hand, bipolar depression is a complex and sensitive mental disorder in which two completely opposite and extreme changes in a person’s mood, i.e. extreme mood swings, are seen. Sometimes in the mental state of a person suffering from bipolar disorder, there comes a period of excessive enthusiasm, energy, over-confidence and taking big decisions without thinking i.e. ‘mania’ or ‘hypomania’, then after a few weeks or months the same person suddenly goes into the well of deep and severe depression. During bipolar depression, the patient feels extreme lethargy, despair and severe lack of energy, which looks similar to unipolar depression, but its treatment and the medicines given for it are completely different. If a bipolar patient is given only simple antidepressant medications, their mania can worsen and become more dangerous, so getting a correct diagnosis by a psychiatrist is considered the most important step in this disease.

Since the symptoms of unipolar and bipolar depression may seem similar in the initial stages, drawing any conclusions on one’s own without consulting a doctor or expert can prove to be extremely dangerous for the patient. In today’s time, it is most important to increase awareness about mental health so that people do not ignore depression considering it as ‘weak willpower’ or ‘delusion of the mind’, but consider it as a serious medical condition and get it treated professionally. By adopting therapy, counselling, right medicines and a disciplined lifestyle, both these types of depression can be completely recovered and a normal and happy life can be lived. Understand the changes in the behavior of the people around you, listen to them and if needed, do not hesitate to take them to a good psychiatrist, because your correct understanding can safely save a precious life.