months. After not responding to any new medications during this nine month depression Cassandra’s doctor recommended Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and this has drastically affected her life.
Today she is married to an incredible husband who is supportive of her illness, and she leads a full life managing the ups and downs of the Bipolar illness. This is her story.
Cassandra’s Story
I was a really happy kid and I had a really happy child hood. Once I became a teenager, my parents thought it would be best if I went away to boarding school because of the school system. I was four-teen and going into ninth grade. I was really upset, and put off by the fact that my parents sent me to boarding school, but indignant to the fact that my parents had the money to get me the best education possible. Every time I ever left home, such as leaving for summer school; I always had a lot of friends. They picked this boarding school in Connecticut, one of the top boarding schools in the country, and it was different . It was hard. There weren’t many people of ethnic descent. And if they were of color they really didn’t relate to me anyway, because they grew up in bigger areas where they knew a lot of kids, and I didn’t grow up like that.
I tried really hard to make friends. My personality started to change after I got to boarding school at the age of four-teen. I was miserable. I started doing drugs. Mainly pot, and speed, and alcohol. I don’t recall any event bringing this personality change other than, for the first time I was unhappy . I didn’t feel comfortable with myself. I felt that there was something wrong with me, and that whatever I did wasn’t good enough. These feelings lead me to start doing speed when I was running track and cross country. I didn’t think anything I did was good enough. Other than that I don’t know if the unhappiness came from my illness, or from the situation, but I was just very unhappy.
Bipolar disorder typically develops in late adolescence or early adulthood; however, some people have their first symptoms during childhood, while others develop then late in life. Often unrecognized, people may suffer for years before obtaining an accurate diagnosis.
Bipolar disorder affects both sexes equally, but women are about three times more likely to experience rapid cycling; that is, having four or more distinct periods of depression, hypomania, mixed states, or mania in a one-year period.
Both children and adolescents can develop bipolar disorder. Unlike many adults with the illness, whose episodes are more easily definable, children and young adolescents with bipolar disorder often experience chronic mood changes, including rapid mood swings between depression and mania many times within a day. Children with mania are more likely to be irritable and prone to destructive tantrums than to be overly happy and elated. Mixed symptoms also are common in youths with bipolar disorder. Older adolescents who develop the illness may have more classic, adult-type episodes and symptoms.
Bipolar disorder, however, can also appear for the first time in people over 40. The illness that develops in elderly people is less likely to be associated with a family history of the disorder and more likely to accompany medical and neurological problems than earlier-onset bipolar disorder.
Researchers are continuing to learn about the causes of bipolar disorder. Most scientist agree that there is no single cause; rather, many factors act together to produce the illness. Bipolar disorder appears to run in families, often affecting someone from every generation.
-Keck and Suppes 2005 1-1
By the time I was fifteen my life completely changed. Something around me changed. At this point I wasn’t just having a hard time, I was really, really depressed. There was no happiness I found in the world. It felt like I had been kicked down a black hole, and I couldn’t get out, even though I tired, and I tried, and I tried. I
Today she is married to an incredible husband who is supportive of her illness, and she leads a full life managing the ups and downs of the Bipolar illness. This is her story.
Cassandra’s Story
I was a really happy kid and I had a really happy child hood. Once I became a teenager, my parents thought it would be best if I went away to boarding school because of the school system. I was four-teen and going into ninth grade. I was really upset, and put off by the fact that my parents sent me to boarding school, but indignant to the fact that my parents had the money to get me the best education possible. Every time I ever left home, such as leaving for summer school; I always had a lot of friends. They picked this boarding school in Connecticut, one of the top boarding schools in the country, and it was different . It was hard. There weren’t many people of ethnic descent. And if they were of color they really didn’t relate to me anyway, because they grew up in bigger areas where they knew a lot of kids, and I didn’t grow up like that.
I tried really hard to make friends. My personality started to change after I got to boarding school at the age of four-teen. I was miserable. I started doing drugs. Mainly pot, and speed, and alcohol. I don’t recall any event bringing this personality change other than, for the first time I was unhappy . I didn’t feel comfortable with myself. I felt that there was something wrong with me, and that whatever I did wasn’t good enough. These feelings lead me to start doing speed when I was running track and cross country. I didn’t think anything I did was good enough. Other than that I don’t know if the unhappiness came from my illness, or from the situation, but I was just very unhappy.
Bipolar disorder typically develops in late adolescence or early adulthood; however, some people have their first symptoms during childhood, while others develop then late in life. Often unrecognized, people may suffer for years before obtaining an accurate diagnosis.
Bipolar disorder affects both sexes equally, but women are about three times more likely to experience rapid cycling; that is, having four or more distinct periods of depression, hypomania, mixed states, or mania in a one-year period.
Both children and adolescents can develop bipolar disorder. Unlike many adults with the illness, whose episodes are more easily definable, children and young adolescents with bipolar disorder often experience chronic mood changes, including rapid mood swings between depression and mania many times within a day. Children with mania are more likely to be irritable and prone to destructive tantrums than to be overly happy and elated. Mixed symptoms also are common in youths with bipolar disorder. Older adolescents who develop the illness may have more classic, adult-type episodes and symptoms.
Bipolar disorder, however, can also appear for the first time in people over 40. The illness that develops in elderly people is less likely to be associated with a family history of the disorder and more likely to accompany medical and neurological problems than earlier-onset bipolar disorder.
Researchers are continuing to learn about the causes of bipolar disorder. Most scientist agree that there is no single cause; rather, many factors act together to produce the illness. Bipolar disorder appears to run in families, often affecting someone from every generation.
-Keck and Suppes 2005 1-1
By the time I was fifteen my life completely changed. Something around me changed. At this point I wasn’t just having a hard time, I was really, really depressed. There was no happiness I found in the world. It felt like I had been kicked down a black hole, and I couldn’t get out, even though I tired, and I tried, and I tried. I
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