Featuring Dr. Lakshmi Yatham, MBBS, FRCPC, MRCPsych (UK)

Duration: 59 seconds

People with Bipolar 1 disorder experience manic as well as depressive episodes and the symptoms of each of those episodes are quite different.

So for example, if you are in a depressive episode, you tend to feel sad or unhappy for no reason. You may not have any interest in going out, talking to people, you have less energy, you may have trouble falling asleep or you may want to sleep all the time.

The most significant concern though is that sometimes during a depressive episode people also tend to have suicidal thoughts. Therefore, this is a very serious condition.

If you’re experiencing any of these types of symptoms, you need to make sure that you seek help, so you need to talk to your family physician or a psychiatrist to get help at the right time.

Presenter: Dr. Lakshmi Yatham, Psychiatrist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: Psychiatrist