Bipolar disorder (BPD) is a major medical and social burden, but little is known about the specific pathophysiology of BPD. The key biogenic amines in the aminergic system include serotonin (5-HT), norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA), and acetylcholine (ACh). By analyzing these neurotransmitters, this chapter highlights three hypotheses in the pathophysiology of BPD: the biogenic amine hypothesis, the cholinergic-aminergic balance hypothesis, and the permissive hypothesis. Evidence from select studies of cerebrospinal fluid, postmortem subjects, neuroimaging, genetic factors, and pharmacological agents will be used to reconcile these hypotheses. Possible explanations for discrepancies in these hypotheses are given, and directions for future studies are suggested.

Feminist pedagogy is a teaching approach concerned with gender injustice and other inequalities. It is grounded in feminist theory, which critically questions knowledge production and the politics of difference. Feminist pedagogy is an academic movement against educational paradigms that accept or reproduce oppressive social orders. By exposing the masculine bias that shapes concepts in the social sciences, feminist pedagogy highlights voices traditionally excluded from power structures. Courses modeled with a feminist perspective explore identity in relation to race, location, class, (dis)ability, and sexuality. This alternative style of teaching confronts dominant views of the body, colonialism, and gender. Teachers challenge students to apply theory to practice and change their sense of self and the world. Thus, education becomes a site of empowerment and social transformation. Feminist pedagogy intersects activism, politics, and experience.

Consciousness‐raising involves increasing one's awareness of social conditions that sustain injustice. In this dynamic process, individuals make sense of their role within oppressive structures. Consciousness‐raising is known as an emancipatory method. Through reflection and dialogue, oppressed groups recognize their own exploitation by the privileged. When disadvantaged groups become conscious of their actions, they move toward liberation, or realization of their full potential. Disadvantaged groups no longer view social conditions as static; they work toward changing structural inequalities. The cultivation of consciousness generates political agency. This self‐reflexive practice can lead to collective social action. Consciousness‐raising stimulated land reform in the Chinese Revolution, the literacy campaign in Brazil, and the feminist movement in the United States. With critical inquiry into the gendered system of relations, politics of power, and systematic oppression, individuals imagine alternative social possibilities. Consciousness‐raising serves as a foundation for activism, experiential learning, and feminist pedagogy.