Bipolar disorder is an illness that affects around 1% of the Australian population. Without treatment it can be debilitating, although those living with bipolar can lead successful and fulfilling lives by managing their condition. Bipolar disorder is classified as a mood (or affective) disorder and is characterised by extreme swings in mood.
While we don’t know what causes bipolar disorder, we believe it has a biological basis.
We are currently working on identifying the genetic causes of bipolar disorder by studying families and individuals with bipolar disorder, as well as the young children of people who have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. So far, we have identified a number of susceptibility genes which we believe increase a person’s risk in developing bipolar disorder.
To learn more about bipolar disorder please visit the Bipolar Disorders Library here. The Bipolar Disorders Library provides reliable and up to date information from systematic reviews on over 300 topics relating to bipolar disorders (bipolar I disorder, bipolar II disorder, and cyclothymic disorder). The topics cover symptoms, treatments, diagnosis, risk factors, outcomes, co-occurring ‘comorbid’ conditions, epidemiology (population perspective), and the physical features of bipolar disorder.