Bipolar Disorder is a mood disorder, affecting around 2.5% of the American
population. Although this illness has received
a great deal of attention in recent years, most people are still not aware of true intricacies of the
disorder and the majority of the
population remains uneducated, suffering from a tendency to oversimplify the symptoms. Bipolar Disorder is an extremely serious, potentially lethal, biological disorder, accounting for symptoms well beyond that of escalating mood swings. This paper presents a summary of the current literature on Bipolar Disorder, compiled from various sources, including actual case studies. Symptoms, treatment options, incidence and prevalence rates, course, history, etiology and demographic variables are included in the paper.