Highs and lows of manic depression

YOU feel on top of the world - lively, witty and a delight to be with. Creative ideas sizzle in your mind. You are enjoying life and bursting with so much energy that you barely need to sleep. In short, life is wonderful - but there is a price to pay.

'My life is a combination of highs and lows,' said Anna, 31, who suffers from manic depression. 'When I have a high I will go out and do things. I will [sing] karaoke all night and spend a lot of money. I will talk non-stop, or find myself lots of part-time jobs to keep myself occupied.

'But then I also have my lows. I tried to kill myself once. The psychologist didn't diagnose manic depression, not until years later, in 1987.' Manic depression is a mental condition which is less common than normal depression, but can be more disabling. Studies show one in seven people, if left untreated, will commit suicide.

It can run in families - close relatives of sufferers have about a 10 per cent risk (10 times the normal rate) of developing the illness themselves. Women are twice as likely to be sufferers. Victims have included the composer Schumann and the late Jeremy Brett, who played Sherlock Holmes on television.

The condition involves dramatic swings of mood between elation - during which the patient may embark on grandiose projects, often spending large sums of money - and feeling paralysing despair. The key to treatment lies in controlling these swings, through drugs and learning to control one's emotions.

Dr Peter Lee Wing-ho, senior lecturer with the University of Hong Kong's Department of Psychiatry, said: 'I have seen one manic depressive who was so full of energy he would spend all night playing squash. He would also embark on spending sprees. He once spent $600,000 on crystal ornaments.

'Another placed an order for two BMWs while he was on a high.