My Mother And Bipolar Disorder

A little boy walked into his mother’s room because he could hear her sobbing. His father had to go to work, and he was left alone with her. She had been in bed for three days now, and the young boy couldn’t seem to understand why his mother was so sad. So he crawled into bed with her and just laid there, cuddling with her; hoping to make her feel better. The next day, as if this had never happened, he and his mother spent a good part of the day baking hundreds, if not thousands of cookies; and he didn’t understand how his mother could go from being so sad to so happy. This story is one of my earliest memories of my mother. My mother suffered with emotional extremes. She would have dark depressive times, which would then be followed by extreme maniac episodes. My mother was affected by Bipolar Disorder, and the …show more content…
The text explains that: “Furthermore, researchers have found that several neurotransmitters play a role in depression. For example, alterations in the functioning of serotonin and norepinephrine are related to this disorder.” (pg. 472 Essentials of Understanding Psychology) This is precisely what occurred with my mother. She had a chemical imbalance in her mind that wouldn’t allow her to function normally. After being in therapy to deal with her depression, and with the right mix of prescription medication, my mother soon was like a whole different person. She was able to remain calm and deal with stress in a much more productive manner. She also stopped the manic episodes of uncontrollable behavior. However, her doctors struggled for a while to find the right balance of medications for her. There were times when she was always low, or always high, but finally at one point she had reached a balance that made her able to function without the chronic ups and downs. She began to work more normally, and very rarely did she ever go into