Bipolar Disorder Treatment, Causes, Types, Symptoms, Medication And Facts

The older term for bipolar disorder, manic depression, is perhaps too narrow in its focus on the two most extreme moods found in bipolar disorder. Regarding these extreme instances or poles as only the top and the bottom of the entire globe provides us insight into how an entire world of emotions is part of everyone’s emotional life.

People seeking to help or diagnose individuals suffering from bipolar disorder may need to sort through a whole range of emotional states – only some of which that can be characterize as mental illness. The classic manic-depressive sequence may not play out in persons that are in fact bipolar. Milder forms of bipolar disorder may not be detected at all or escape detection for a number of years. Bipolar extremes may closely resemble other forms of depressive mental illness. Since around 50 per cent of persons diagnosed with bipolar disorder abuse drugs and alcohol those substance may interfere with diagnosis also.

The following facts need to be considered by anyone seeking to diagnose this type of mental illness:
• About 20 per cent of people that present to a healthcare professional with complaints of depression are suffering from bipolar disorder.
• As many as three professionals have misdiagnosed about half the cases of bipolar disorder before those cases are correctly identified as bipolar disorder.
• The average delay between initial symptoms and treatment of bipolar disorder is ten years. Some of that problem is attributable to misdiagnosis.

What Makes Bipolar Disorder Mistaken For Mere Depression So Often?
Psychiatric workers encounter classic depression in patients very frequently. In people with bipolar II disorder episodes of depression outnumber manic episodes by a factor of 35 to 1. In people with bipolar I disorder episodes of depression outnumber manic episodes by a factor of just 3 to 1. Those three factors should serve to convince those tasked with the job of diagnosing people with mental problems that bipolar disorder should not be ruled out quite so quickly when symptoms of depression are in evidence.

When we look at mania our caution regarding ruling out bipolar disorder too quickly is reinforced. Recall that in cases of bipolar I disorder depression outweighs mania by a 3 to 1 factor. Add to that the fact that the severe mania that characterizes bipolar I disorder is relatively easy to diagnose and it isn’t surprising that an absence of severe mania in bipolar I disorder patients causes a misdiagnosis. In bipolar II disorder the milder forms of mania (hypomania) may also lead diagnosticians to conclude that no mania is present at all.

The following checklist should help those assessing people with psychological symptoms to carefully consider the possibility of bipolar disorder before ruling it out. Don’t consider this an exercise in “guilt by association” but take heed that the following are often associated with a developing bipolar disorder, especially in teenagers.
Depression
Substance abuse
Thoughts of suicide
Impulsive behavior
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD)
Anxiety

No one factor can confirm the possibility of bipolar disorder, but these indicators can point to that possibility.

Much of the treatment of bipolar disorder can be described as “pharmo-centric”. This is hardly surprising given the effectiveness of drug therapy and the almost universal agreement that the disorder arises from an imbalance in brain chemistry. “Talk” based therapies and behavioral therapies have proven their effectiveness in the treatment of bipolar disorders as well, however.

Talk therapy affords you the opportunity to discuss emotions, thoughts and actions that you struggle with if you are bipolar. Understanding of your problems may lead to a greater mastery over the behaviors that lead to your inability to function in society. Simple attention to you and your problems can help you to bolster a positive self-mage as well.

Psychiatrists have done us the favor of classifying the types of psychotherapy used to treat bipolar disorder.

Behavioral
As the name implies this therapy centers around reinforcing the behaviors that minimize stresses in your life, often called positive behaviors.

Cognitive
The word cognitive comes from the Latin word for knowing or known. Cognitive therapy puts you in touch with those parts of yourself that control patterns of thinking and moods. Once you know yourself a little better you can start to modify your moods and thoughts in a positive way.

Interpersonal
Relationships of all kinds are dealt with by interpersonal therapy. It aims to reduce the strains on relationships that your illness may have caused.

A support group can play a key role in keeping people with bipolar disorder psychologically healthy or helping to restore them to psychological health. Such groups offer you the opportunity to share your feelings and concerns, learn how to cope and receive an encouraging word now and again. A support group may also prove helpful for family and friends who need to cope with your illness every bit as much as you do, at least at times.

Educational initiatives can also help patients and their families come to terms with bipolar disorder. Unrealistic expectations and fears can be put into a proper perspective. With increased understanding patients and their families can begin to access and develop effective coping strategies. Early signs of an impending episode can also be identified and used to prevent the worst aspects of such episodes from occurring.

Further coping strategies can include the following concrete steps:

Avoid alcohol and drug abuse. These intoxicants can provoke manic depressive episodes. They interfere with the way mood stabilizers and other therapeutic medications work.

Identify symptoms. Early warning signs can be elusive to identify. Patients can cooperate with mental health care personnel and those that know them best to come up with a list of behaviors or thought patterns that appear to have preceded episode in the past.

Anticipate and adapt. The realization that someone is bipolar is only ever part of their therapeutic path. Changes in lifestyle that reduce stress or over-stimulation are helpful. You can discuss your fear of future episodes with your therapist and allay some of that fear by preparing for them.
Establish regular routines and sleep patterns. Whether waking or sleeping your chemical balance is easier to maintain if you follow regular and healthful routines.