Causes of Bipolar Disorder

Popular theory is that the causes of bipolar disorder should be fairly easy for the layman to grasp. bipolar disorder is not caused by a lone factor. Several factors are intertwined together to produce a cloth of the illness. Hence, its being so called to run among blood relatives, other factors such as biochemical and environmental can not just be eliminated. In other words, having a relative with a bipolar disorder doesn’t always mean you’ll get it too, but there is a big possibility. Moreover, having a clean slate in the family background doesn’t always save you from the lash of the sickness.

In any case, individuals afflicted with the disorder seem to have biologic similarities that are detected by tests and imaging scans. The patients manifest an over production of cortisol (stress hormone), more than the usual hyperactivity in some parts of the brain that is related with movement and emotional functions, reduced brain activity in parts that are linked with cognitive functioning, fast biological clock (regulates the body’s circadian rhythm, cycle of sleep and waking), and extreme flooding of calcium into the brain cells.

Bipolar disorder can be caused by either or a combination of these factors:

Biochemical or biological Causes

Genetic or familial Causes

Medication induced Causes

Environmental Causes