Bipolar disorder merits more attention from the scientific community.

For those living with it and researchers trying to unravel its secrets, bipolar disorder is a slippery customer indeed.

While no two individuals experience bipolar disorder in the exact same way, episodes of extreme highs (mania) and extreme lows (depression)—punctuated by periods of "normality"—are classic symptoms of the disorder.

Researchers, meanwhile, continue to fight their own battle with the condition.

Yes, progress continues—at a snail’s pace—to be made into understanding bipolar disorder.

But . . .

. . . improving the quality of life of those diagnosed with the condition . . .

. . . mitigating its symptoms . . .

. . . and ensuring the wider, practical adaptation of research findings still remain some of the major challenges.[1]

Although we now know that bipolar disorder takes many forms, the root cause(s) of the condition remains a mystery, and the condition 'continues to thwart a tremendous effort to understand its pathogenesis'. [2]

Making matters worse still is the fact that bipolar disorder receives less research attention than it should. [3]

For us at The Sean Costello Memorial Fund for Bipolar Research, the condition is personal.

We lost our son, friend, brother and a gifted blues musician to bipolar disorder . . .

. . . only to gain a hopeful but welcome perspective into the condition.