Bipolar disorder. Clinical and epidemiologic characteristics

Abstract

Bipolar disorder is a chronic and recurrent disorder characterized by pathological fluctuations of the mood states. The stages of the disease include hypomanic, maniac and depressive episodes.  These episodes interfere in a significant way in the patient´s daily life and his surroundings, with an important repercussion on his health and life quality. For the psychiatrists, the precocious diagnosis of this disease is very important, in order to provide a timely treatment to patients, taking into account the severity of the symptoms and the complications of this disease. Due to this reality, the authors decided to describe the general characteristics of this disorder through a bibliographic review where they exposed the main clinical manifestations, classification, epidemiological aspects, the course of the disease, complications and co-morbidity.   The most relevant published works were reviewed to contribute to the process of continued medical education of the health professionals.