Manic depression is an illness or disorder that affects a persons mood, one moment they can have a greatly elevated mood ('Manic') followed by a period of feeling low ('Depression'). Its perfectly normal for someone to have high and low moods but someone suffering from manic depression experiences greatly exaggerated highs and lows.

The moods of a manic depressive person are like that of a pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other. As the term itself implies, manic depression is a psychological disorder wherein a person has bouts of mania and depression. Manic depression is associated with extreme mood swings and sudden behavioral changes.

Manic Depression manifests itself mainly through behavioral and mood symptoms that can be classified into two opposite sets. One set involves symptoms of a very elated, or "high," state, while the opposite set involves a very depressed or "low" state. These two symptom sets demonstrate themselves in a continuous range.

The depressive episode of manic depression is on the other hand characterized by low levels of mood swings and is usually accompanied by five or more other symptoms. These symptoms tend to last the whole day for a period of about two weeks or sometimes even longer.

Depressive signs and symptoms are characterized not only by negative thoughts, moods, and behaviors but also by specific changes in bodily functions (for example, crying spells, body aches, low energy or libido, as well as problems with eating, weight, or sleeping).

The functional changes of clinical depression are often called neurovegetative signs.Manic Depression is a serious form of Depression requiring more intensive treatments.Standard treatments typically include psychotherapy (talk therapy) combined with one or more antidepressant medications. In some serious cases hospitalization might be necessary to stabilize your moods

Psychosis is another phenomenon that can be observed as a manic depression symptom. It occurs in both manic and depressive modes of the disorder. It is characterized by hallucination and delusion that is sometimes mistaken for schizophrenia (another form of mental disorder that also manifests hallucination and delusion).

Manic depression Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in a person's mood, energy, and ability to function.

Manic depression is also known to manifest itself in a Mixed state, this means that the people suffering from it will experience mania and depression at the same time. So they may experience agitation, anxiety, fatigue, guilt, impulsiveness, insomnia, irritability, morbid and/or suicidal ideation, panic, paranoia, pressured speech and rage.

Helping alleviate some of the stress and responsibilities from the person suffering from manic depression can help them focus on maintaining balance and managing the additional stress the trauma has caused. Encourage the manic depression person to take some time for himself to do something they enjoy.

The symptoms of manic depression are quite wide ranging. They normally include large mood swings, ranging from an extreme high, occasionally with irritability, to an extremely low and hopeless mood and back again. In between these two poles of mood are periods of normal mood.