Brain Sprain

I have Bipolar Disorder.  I am not ashamed of that, nor do I believe there is any stigma associated with it.  I know some people are still afraid of mental illness.  Technically, Bipolar is a Mood Disorder, not a Cognitive Disorder.  But I didn't start out with Bipolar.  After a number of events, which I'll get into another time, 12 years ago I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and Anxiety.

Please note:  This is a very simplistic description!  I would not even call it Bipolar 101.  More like Bipolar prep.  I've boiled it down a whole lot and you lose quite a bit when you do that.

There is physical proof that these disorders are not imaginary.

Further, there are electrochemical impulses in the brain which have been proven to be associated with Depression.

First, a neuron (brain cell) receives an electrical impulse.  That first impulse is triggered by something happening to us.  Perhaps a physical threat or life-changing news.  Then, the neuron sends a chemical message to the next neuron.  The messenger (neurotransmitter) could be seratonin, norepinephrine, or dopamine, each of which has a known relationship to depression.  We'll use seratonin for this example because I have pictures for.  The seratonin takes the message through the gap (synapse), between neurons to the receiving neuron.  The receiver takes the message, sending the seratonin back into the synapse.  Some of the seratonin will be taken back into the first neuron. That is called reuptake.  And that seems to be where the trouble is.  Medications such as Zoloft, Paxil, Effexor, etc., are Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors.

The medication blocks the passage that would allow the seratonin to get back into the first neuron.  This has been proven to relieve depression in many people.

It doesn't work for everyone with a Depressive Disorder, but it works for a lot.  And there are other types of antidepressants, too, that work for other people.


This is all taking place in the Limbic System area of the brain.  The Limbic system regulates emotions, physical and sexual drives and the stress response, among other things.  The transmitting of those "messages" is called impulse.  These impulses are about 1/5000 of a second.  Very difficult to catch as it happens.  But there are results of these impulses and that's what scientists look at.

Depression is just one-half, well more like 45%, of what constitutes Bipolar Disorder.  Another 45% is the manic side.  But just putting all this together gave me a headache.  We'll look at the other parts of Bipolar, and how someone ends up there, another time.