Bipolar Disorder Support Group

Bipolar disorder is not just a single disorder, but a category of mood disorders marked by periods of abnormally high energy and euphoria, often accompanied by bouts of clinical depression. This is the place to talk about your experience with bipolar disorder, learn from others' experiences, and find support.

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Traumatic Event

deleted_user
deleted_user
I am still learning about BP and was wondering is it something we are born with or does something traumatic trigger it?
After researching my past with my therapist alot of my symptoms started after my father was shot.

Is this something that just happened to trigger mine or does ever ones get set off by something in their past??
deleted_user
deleted_user
i think that we are all born with it it's just sometimes it takes a traumatic event to spark the bipolar
deleted_user
deleted_user
yeah, you're predisposed and something whether it adolescence, childbirth, stress sparks the initial episode, or so goes the theory.
tommymott
tommymott
The genetic basis for BP is interesting. There are several sites. One is genetic/hereditary and another just sits there until it's triggered by a stress event. So it can go either way. A head trauma can start things going, too.
deleted_user
deleted_user
tommy, I thought it was both genetic predisp./stress event? *shrug*
deleted_user
deleted_user
I believe we are all born with Bp.
tommymott
tommymott
It's all in the genes. There are people with no family history of BP who develop it. There are people like me whose whole maternal family is BP or some other diagnosis and I made it to age 26 before a diagnosis for me. I was a strange child and was definitely depressed at age 14 but nobody paid any attention.

But not everyone with the predisposition gene or the genetic history develops BP.

I think it can be one or the other or none. I'd have to go back and review some data and of course even the researchers have disagreements so I'll just say I think we're all right about it. It doesn't matter how we get to be BP as long as we can take care of it!
Shelly4
Shelly4
Research has shown that for most mental illnesses, genetic susceptibility and outside influences conspire to cause the disease.

If you have a loaded family history for either mood disorders, depression or anxiety disorders, that means you have a genetic vulnerability. Coupled with that, if you have dramatic life events, the likelihood that you will go on as an adult to develop a major psychiatric disorder is extremely high. Dramatic events are classified differently for different people. Therefore, it can be unclear as to what kind of traumatic event can trigger the mental illness. Some may be triggered very young in life and others in their teens or adulthood. I believe my bipolar disorder was triggered by sexual abuse when I was eight years old but the manifestation was not clear until I was a young teenager. It is difficult to track the onset because the disorder is not always clear when triggered because of age. Hugs.
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