Counseling and Psychological Services are located in Student Health. Photo by Albin Oh.

Bipolar disorder is less prevalent among University students than across the nation as a whole, according to Russell Federman, director of the University’s Counseling and Psychological Services.
Federman estimates that about 1 percent of the University’s population has bipolar disorder, according to the first post on his blog, “Bipolar You,”, that focuses on and hopes to reach out to individuals living with the disorder within a university environment. By contrast, the National Institute for Mental Health estimates that about 2.5 percent of the U.S. population older than 18 has bipolar disorder, he said.

“Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder in which you see a fair degree of mood instability involving polarities of depression and mania,” Federman said. Mania is an elevated mood state, which involves feelings of increased energy and optimism, an inflated self-esteem and a decreased need for sleep, he said. Symptoms of depression, meanwhile, include fatigue, difficulty concentrating and feelings of hopelessness or sadness.

“However, people with bipolar disorder are more frequent travelers in the depressive range than the elevated mood range,” Federman said. He estimates that people with bipolar disorder express depressive symptoms around 70 to 75 percent of the time.

The selective admission and stressful academic environment of the University are reasons why bipolar disorder is not as widespread here, Federman said.

“The functional requirements of being in a university exclude those who have more acute forms of the disorder,” he said. “You have to be very functional to get into U.Va, or any other university. If you have bipolar disorder, it sometimes gets in the way of the high functioning necessary for university study.”

The severity of symptoms, though, can vary from person to person and may especially hinge on how well sufferers manage their disorder, CAPS psychiatrist Andy Thompson said. This management, he added, must include a structured lifestyle.

“You have to try as hard as possible to have a normal sleep cycle and you need to refrain from alcohol [and] marijuana,” he said. “You’re not as stress-resilient as you otherwise would be as a young adult.”

But Thompson urges those who think they may have bipolar disorder to seek help while they’re still young.

“You should reach out for help because help [at a young age] could provide stability to the illness,” he said, noting that medicine is more effective against initial episodes than ones that occur at a later age.

Federman said he believes support groups are highly effective for students that have the disorder, as the groups give people the chance to connect to people who are dealing with similar issues. This year marks the third time CAPS has offered a support group for those with bipolar disorder.

“There aren’t that many people that know what you’re going through, that share a common experience,” Federman said. “If you meet with other students that have it, you feel understood and supported.”