Bipolar Disorder: Notes From Opq
Bipolar disorder is a mood condition defined by episodes of mania or hypomania, usually alongside episodes of depression, in which energy, sleep need, judgement and speed of thought all move together.
Also called: Manic depression, Bipolar affective disorder, Bipolar I disorder, Bipolar II disorder.
ICD-10 F31 · ICD-11 6A60
Personal reflections, not clinical guidance, and not a substitute for any of it. Just what I keep thinking about while building this.
September 2026
The lecture that stuck
Dr Olajide Annafi supervised my research project for my BSc at Osun State University. He was also the lecturer assigned to teach us psychopharmacology, which ended up being my favourite course.
His explanation of bipolar disorder stuck with me more than anything else. I can still clearly remember random expressions he made while explaining it. It stuck. I understood it.
Know the difference
People use "bipolar" as slang for moody. That slang has built a false picture of fast flips within a single day.
That's not it. Bipolar disorder is episodes. Weeks or months of depression. Separate stretches of mania or hypomania. Long periods of being well in between. That's why the introduction opens on one word, episodes.
The fifth contested opening
Serotonin, the amygdala, low dopamine, damage, and now a dopamine swing. Five conditions, five simple stories about one chemical or one brain part. None of them really holds up.
What replaces this one is more useful than the myth. Genes you can't change, and sleep you can.
Why this device is switches
Every other treatment tab has one control. This one has four. Bipolar treatment works by combining things, so the device had to be about combining things.
The fourth switch is there for a reason. The most common way a working plan fails isn't the plan. It's someone feeling well and stopping.
The low is bigger than the high
Everyone pictures bipolar disorder as a mountain. The research says it's mostly a valley. So the chart on the treatment tab is drawn that way on purpose. More of the two years sits below the middle strip than above it.