When the economy takes a downtown, it doesn’t just affect the large corporations and retirement accounts. It can also make it harder for the average working individual to make ends meet. If an individual is struggling to pay his bills, and is falling behind on expenses, resulting in collection letters or phone calls, financial anxiety can overwhelm him. These individuals can have significant mood and attitude changes and become much more aggressive or reactionary when dealing with friends, coworkers and family. Excessive financial anxiety can lead an individual into a state of depression over his financial situation.

Quick Temper

An unusually quick temper can be a sign of financial anxiety. This can happen when the individual is trying to keep his financial struggles private, and is having trouble dealing with the stress. He will allow things to “set him off” that normally would not bother him.

Checking The Mail Frequently

An individual suffering from financial anxiety may want to avoid having others learn about her financial situation. She will make a significant effort to be the first person at the mailbox after the mail is delivered. She does not want others to see her bills or collection notices arrive in the mail.

Taking Phone Calls in Private

Someone with financial anxiety will try to answer the phone before anyone else and will take the phone call in private, where others cannot hear. He is concerned that others might receive a call from a collection company looking for him, or find out about the collection call by overhearing it. If he cannot get away from others, he might claim the call was a “wrong number” and hang up on them.

Excessive Spending

Sometimes someone with financial anxiety who is usually good at sticking to a budget will start spending out of control. The individual gets into a mindset that he is in so much debt, it doesn’t matter how much money he spends. This can be seen in excessive spending on entertainment and other items that he has been denying himself for an extended period of time.

Overview

Bipolar disorder affects millions of people and the worse part is some do not even know that they have it. If you feel that your loved one may be suffering from this disease, talk with a professional and seek advice. There is help for those who suffer bipolar disorder. If you or your loved one is suffering from any of the following behavioral traits, get help as soon as possible.

Step 1

Recognize the types of bipolar disorder. There are two basic types of bipolar disorder–Bipolar Type 1 and Bipolar Type 2. Bipolar Type 1 is the easiest to diagnose because people will have extreme emotions or will experience full blown mania. Bipolar Type 2, however, is much harder to diagnose because people will feel the emotions are normal and they may not experience such manic mood swings.

Step 2

Watch their moods closely. People with bipolar disorder can experience a wide range of moods in rapid successions. People can experience a very high sense of emotion and feel that everything is great and can view life through rose-colored glasses. Then suddenly they will experience a sudden crash and feel very depressed, sad or angry.

Step 3

Look for extremely high levels of energy. Experiencing high levels of energy or feeling like they are wired is a key observation in determining bipolar disorder. If a person finds that his thoughts are racing or makes extreme decisions without thinking, he may be experiencing hypomania. Other symptoms may include talking rapidly, talking while other people are trying to talk, always feeling like he needs to be on the go and stating that he requires little sleep. A person with bipolar disorder may also experience high levels of creativity, stating that he sees things more clearly and feels like the senses are heightened.

Step 4

Scrutinize behaviors. People suffering from bipolar disorder may become severe risk-takers or get themselves involved in inappropriate activities like gambling excessively. They may also consume large amounts of alcohol and drugs and make irrational decisions about tattoos, spending money or getting involved in bad relationships over and over again. They may experience an extreme manic state of emotion and get highly irritated or angry at others for no apparent reason.

Step 5

Determine if they are having hallucinations. Some people who suffer from bipolar disorder may actually hallucinate or experience delusions during an extreme manic episode. Delusions are quite frequent during a depressive manic episode and can occur in two forms–grandiose delusions where they believe they possess special powers or gifts and persecutory delusions in which they think everyone is out to get them and that something bad will happen. Hallucinations, on the other hand, come in six forms based on senses. Auditory hallucinations are those in which people think they are hearing voices. Olfactory hallucinations are where they smell things that are not there. Gustatory hallucinations are where they have unusual tastes in their mouths. Tactile hallucinations are where the person feels things on their skin like bugs. Somatic hallucinations are those in which the person feels deep sensations in their body and visual hallucinations occur when people will see things that aren’t really there.

Overview

Mental illnesses cost considerably more to treat than physical illnesses. Many mental illnesses tend to be chronic conditions a person takes a long time to recover from. The chronic nature of mental illness and the differences in how patients react to treatment make it difficult to come up with an exact cost for treatment.

Partial Hospitalization Services

A study conducted by Anthony Bateman and Anthony Fonagy in 2003 found a partial hospitalization program treated BPD patients for $12,000 a year. The cost to treat patients who had not gone through the partial hospitalization was five times higher.

Talk Therapy

Many borderline personality disorder patients find talk or group therapy useful. The cost of one hour counseling sessions starts at $80.

Medication

Psychiatrists usually prescribe mood stabilizers to help maintain the moods of BPD patients. Mood stabilization drugs vary in cost, although generic drugs can reduce the amount of money patients spend on medication to treat their condition.

In-Hospital Care

The cost to treat borderline personality disorder patients who require hospitalization is the same for people who have partial hospitalization as it is for patients enrolled in more traditional treatment programs.

Exact Cost Difficult to Determine

Borderline personality disorder patients often require follow-up care from social workers employed by local governments. This adds to the overall cost of treatment and makes giving a figure for the total annual treatment cost more difficult.