Information in English
What is bipolar disorder?
Bipolar disorder is a chronic or episodic (which means occurring occasionally and at irregular intervals) mental disorder. It can cause unusual, often extreme and fluctuating changes in mood, energy, activity, and concentration or focus. Bipolar disorder sometimes is called manic-depressive disorder or manic depression, which are older terms.
Everyone goes through normal ups and downs, but bipolar disorder is different. The range of mood changes can be extreme. In manic episodes, someone might feel very happy, irritable, or “up,” and there is a marked increase in activity level. In depressive episodes, someone might feel sad, indifferent, or hopeless, in combination with a very low activity level. Some people have hypomanic episodes, which are like manic episodes, but less severe and troublesome.
Most of the time, bipolar disorder develops or starts during late adolescence (teen years) or early adulthood. Occasionally, bipolar symptoms can appear in children. Although the symptoms come and go, bipolar disorder usually requires lifetime treatment and does not go away on its own. Bipolar disorder can be an important factor in suicide, job loss, and family discord, but proper treatment leads to better outcomes.
Assistance in a crisis situation
In the event of an acute crisis:
- Call your doctor. Your doctor can be the first step in getting help.
- Seek immediate help from a doctor or the nearest hospital emergency room (Notaufnahme), if you or someone you know is in crisis or considering suicide.
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- Hospitals in Berlin: https://www.berliner-krankenhausverzeichnis.de/en/search/search/?locale=en&client=berlin
- Hospitals in Brandenburg: https://www.german-hospital-directory.com/search/Bundesland/Brandenburg.html
- In an emergency:
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- Call 112 to contact the ambulance / rescue service (Rettungsdienst)
- Call 110 to contact the police (Polizei)
- On-call doctor service / medical service (Ärztlicher Bereitschaftsdienst):
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- Call 116117, free of charge nationwide including from the mobile network
- More info in German: here
- Crisis service Berlin (Berliner Krisendienst):
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- Multi-lingual assistance and cooperation with interpreters and linguists
- Regional accessibility from 16:00 until 24:00
- See: https://www.berliner-krisendienst.de/en/
Last update: August 13th, 2019
Self-help & support group
Currently there is no established English-speaking bipolar support group (Selbsthilfegruppe/SHG) in Berlin or Brandenburg.
But there are already some people willing to form a new bipolar support group in Berlin. Please contact Daniel, if you are interested:
- bsg@bipolaris-mail.de
- Phone/WhatsApp: 01525 97 28 049 (+491525 97 28 049)
Looking for a doctor
in Berlin
Online search engine for Statutory Health Insurance Doctors (KV Berlin):
- https://www.kvberlin.de/61arztsuche_en/index.html
- set "Fields" to "Psychiatry"
in Brandenburg
Online search engine for Statutory Health Insurance Doctors (KV Brandenburg):
- https://arztsuche.kvbb.de/ases-kvbb/ases.jsf
- fill field "Was" with "Psychiatrie"
- fill field "Wo" with ZIP-Code (PLZ) or location (Ort)
- "Umkreis" = radius in kilometers
Note: Both search engines will show all psychiatrists, no matter if they are speaking English or not.
Good luck!
Looking for a therapist
bipolaris has asked psychotherapists in Berlin and Brandenburg if and how often they treat people with bipolar disorder or other serious conditions. The results are available here:
- bipolaris Psychotherapeuten-Datenbank
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- "Standort" = ZIP-Code (PLZ) or location (Ort)
- "Suchradius" = radius in kilometers
- set "Fremdsprache" to "englisch"
- set "Diagnose" to "Bipolare Störungen"
More detailed information can be found inside the following PDF.
With many thanks to Ingrid Johnson (www.ingridejohnson.com) for translation!
Further information & links
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Sozialpsychiatrische Dienste der Bezirke
socio-psychiatric services (public health department)
https://www.berlin.de/lb/psychiatrie/hilfe-in-krisen/sozialpsychiatrische-dienste-der-bezirke/
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Psychiatry Complaints and Information Center in Berlin (BIP)
https://www.psychiatrie-beschwerde.de/
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Deutsche Gesellschaft für Bipolare Störungen e.V. (DGBS)
expert knowledge (in German)
https://www.dgbs.de/
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International Bipolar Foundation (IBPF)
http://ibpf.org/ -
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA)
https://www.dbsalliance.org/ -
International Society for Affective Disorders (ISAD)
https://www.isad.org.uk/ -
International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD)
https://www.isbd.org/ -
European Alliance against Depression (EAAD)
http://www.eaad.net/ -
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, U.S.)
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/
Translation
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Google Translate
Translates documents and websites too (simply copy and paste the link into)
https://translate.google.com/?hl=en
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Linguee - English-German Dictionary
Search translated texts
https://www.linguee.com/
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LEO Dictionary
https://dict.leo.org/german-english/ -
dict.cc - online dictionary
https://www.dict.cc/ -
PONS Online Dictionary
https://en.pons.com/translate
Vocabulary
English | German |
alternative non-medical practitioners for psychotherapy | Heilpraktiker (für Psychotherapie) |
ambulance | Krankenwagen, Rettungswagen |
anxiety, anxiety disorder | Angst, Angststörung |
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) | Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-Hyperaktivitätsstörung (ADHS) |
behavioral therapy | Verhaltenstherapie |
bipolar disorder(s) |
Bipolare Störung(en) older: Bipolare Erkrankung(en) |
counsellor | Berater (male), Beraterin (female) |
(psychosocial) counselling | (psychosoziale) Beratung |
day-care hospital, day hospital, outpatients clinic | Tagesklinik |
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy | Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie |
depression, depressive | Depression, depressiv |
depth psychology-based therapy | tiefenpsychologisch fundierte Therapie, Tiefenpsychologie |
diagnosis | Diagnose |
doctor, physician | Arzt, Arzt (male), Ärztin (female) |
eating disorder | Essstörung |
field of expertise | Fachgebiet |
health insurance | Krankenversicherung |
health insurance (company) | Krankenkasse, Ersatzkasse |
health, healthy | Gesundheit, gesund |
hypomania, hypomanic | Hypomanie, hypomanisch |
inpatient treatment | stationäre Behandlung |
mania, manic | Manie, manisch |
manic depression, manic-depressive illness |
manisch-depressive Erkrankung (= bipolar disorder) |
manic-depressive | manisch-depressiv |
medical assistant, senior house officer | Assistenzarzt (male), Assistenzärztin (female) |
medical psychotherapist | Ärztlicher Psychotherapeut (male), Ärztliche Psychotherapeutin (female), abbr. ÄPT |
medication | Medikation |
medicine, (pharmaceutical) drug |
Arzneimittel, Medikament, Medizin old: Arznei |
mental health | seelische Gesundheit, psychische Gesundheit |
mental health outpatient clinic | Psychiatrische Institutsambulanz, abbr. PIA |
mental illness, mental disorder |
psychische Erkrankung, psychische Störung not used anymore: Geisteskrankheit |
neurologist | Nervenarzt, Neurologe |
outpatient treatment | ambulante Behandlung |
patient(s) | Patient(en) |
personality disorder | Persönlichkeitsstörung |
pharmacological therapy | medikamentöse Behandlung |
pharmacy | Apotheke |
prescription | Rezept, Verordnung |
psychiatrist | Psychiater |
psychoanalysis | Psychoanalyse |
psychological psychotherapist | psychologischer Psychotherapeut, abbr. PPT |
psychologist | Psychologe (male), Psychologin (female) |
psychologists | Psychologen (plural male), Psychologinnen (plural female) |
psychosis | Psychose |
psychotherapist | Psychotherapeut (male), Psychotherapeutin (female) |
recovery | Recovery, Genesung |
senior physician, assistant medical director, resident house physician | Oberarzt (male), Oberärztin (female) |
social anxiety | Sozialphobie, soziale Phobie |
(medical) specialist in neurology, psychiatry, psychotherapy | Facharzt für Neurologie, Psychiatrie, Psychotherapie |
State Office for Health and Social Affairs | Landesamt für Gesundheit und Soziales, abbr. LaGeSo |
study, survey (scientific) | Studie, Untersuchung (wissenschaftlich) |
suicide |
Suizid, Selbsttötung (modern), older: Selbstmord |
support group, self-help group, self-aid group | Selbsthilfegruppe, abbr. SHG |
therapeutic field(s) | Therapiegebiet(e) |
therapy | Therapie |
tranquilizer | Beruhigungsmittel |
treatment | Behandlung |
Questions and suggestions: bipolaris@bipolaris.de