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

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.

People with bipolar disorders are at risk for suicide. The manic, reckless side of bipolar disorder can present dangers to individuals that can result in ‘accidental’ suicide at the very least. When such individuals become unreasonably depressed they also become a danger to themselves and commonly entertain serious thought of committing suicide. Surprisingly enough, mixed states may be yet more dangerous. The unhappiness of depression is there as well as the impulsive energy more typical of mania. This can prove to be a deadly self-destructive combination. In the rare case of bipolar disorder that develops into psychosis delusional behavior and hallucination episodes can lead to suicide.

Suicide is a very real risk for people with bipolar disorder, whether they’re in a manic or depressive episode — 10%-15% of people with bipolar disorder kill themselves.

About 15 per cent of people with bipolar disorder manage to kill themselves. It is a distinct possibility whether the patient is manic or depressive. Suicide attempts by people with bipolar disorder are yet more common. It’s a frightening fact, but preventive and emergency treatments can serve to lower risks factors considerably.

Self Care
Because most bipolars experience considerable periods of rational behavior an emergency self-care plan is a good idea. This can be put into action when symptoms initially appear. A realization on the part of the patient that their condition may sometimes cloud their judgement is a crucial component of such a plan. These strategies may help.

If thoughts of suicide enter the mind, contact a therapist, a suicide hotline or health care provider such as a psychiatric social worker at once
Get in touch with friends and family
Try to remain calm and in one place until arrives
Take a single dose of any medication designed to alleviate your symptoms (this may not be feasible for certain patients, especially those with drug dependency)

Emergency Care
Interventions into acute episodes of bipolar disorder use just some of the same treatment strategies that are designed to prevent symptoms from occurring.
Anti-psychotic drugs can alleviate extreme symptoms if psychosis is present. Anti-anxiety drugs like benzodiazepines can address extreme agitation.
Although it is the object of considerable controversy Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is still used to treat bipolar disorders. ECT is a psychiatric treatment that employs electrical current to create seizures the central nervous system that are of short duration while a patient is anesthetized. Research points to ECT as an effective treatment for depression that is not otherwise responding to medication.
Sleep can help to stabilize the mood in some patients.
Emergency psychiatric counseling or contact with members of a support group or with members of one’s family can prove to be very therapeutic.
The patient may need to stay in a hospital until his or her mood has stabilized and symptoms are under control.

Keep in mind that although they can be disturbing to witness or to experience mood swings are temporary. Most individuals will feel better in time.

Bipolar disorder like many disorders with a fairly long history of treatment and diagnosing is treated using a combination of methods. Typically this means two methods: mood stabilizing drugs and psychotherapy. People who aren’t psychiatrists or pharmacists might be able to tell you the most common drug used to treat bipolar disorder is lithium carbonate, but the list goes on and includes a number of other anti-epileptic and some newer antipsychotic medications. Other mood stabilizers include valproic acid, carbamazepine, Lamictal, Topamax and Gabitril.

While psychotherapy may have fallen out of favor in other treatment contexts it still occupies a fairly prominent position in treating bipolar disorders. In fact, most forms of psychotherapy are in use in treating bipolar conditions. They include behavioral, cognitive and individual or group therapy sessions. Since bipolar episodes are periodic and far from continual, either manic or depressive episodes, psychotherapeutic sessions can serve to enhance a patient’s understanding of their condition and its effect on those around them when periods of rationality prevail.

Those around them include most prominently family members, whom it is important to involve in therapeutic efforts and efforts to understand the disease. Family members can play a significant therapeutic and a preventative role in regard to bipolar episodes.

As mentioned previously lithium has long been the drug of choice for treating bipolar disorders. In fact, this is all the more remarkable since science still doesn’t completely understand how it works in reducing mania in particular. It’s also effective as a preventative for depression. Nowadays it can be used in conjunction with antidepressant medications.

Lithium does have side effects and doesn’t always work as intended. Other mood stabilizers have proven their effectiveness in treating manic and depressive phases of the disease. Using these substances in combination with lithium is also fairly common. Pharmacological advances continue apace. Treatment-resistant cases are reported to respond well to Lamictal.

Combination therapy involving mood stabilizers as well as antidepressants is quite common in treating depressive phases of the disorder. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors are probably the most commonly employed drugs in this context, owing to their lack of side effects as compared to other drugs.

Treating Depression without Drugs
Depressive episodes are still treated using electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). In fact, since falling out of favor around 40 years ago improvements in ECT have led to a steady resurgence in its popularity. It is most often used for severely manic or depressed individuals, especially those who do not or cannot be treated pharmacologically. That group would include individuals with drug sensitivities and pregnant women. The speed at which ECT therapy shows improvement makes it worth considering for patients who are at great risk for committing suicide.

Innovations in nonpharmacological treatment for depression have also come online. They include: VNS (Vagal Nerve Stimulation) and TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation).

When bipolar depression is associated with seasonal affective disorder light therapy has proven to be effective. A light box emitting full spectrum light for as little as 20 minutes a day has proven to be a successful treatment.

Alternative medicine and dietary supplements have gained in esteem and usage over the last twenty years. It seems inevitable that this therapy with supplements of all kinds should be considered for treatment of mood disorders. Additionally alternative medicine regards the body in somewhat different ways from traditional medicine. The mind the body and spirit regarded as a single integrated system. A life that balances these elements is regarded as ideal.
The explosion of alternative medicine has only been accelerated by the vast amount of information available on the Internet. It can be tempting to jump right in and see what’s available for treating someone one’s self for symptoms associated with bipolar disorder.

Self medication has always had its perils. Self medication using herbal supplements without consulting with your doctor can be yet more dangerous. At the very least you should do your homework and consult with your doctor. In that way you may be able to initiate an intelligent discussion of the options available for treating your condition.
Be advised that supplements and herbal remedies can interact negatively with medications you are currently using.

Dietary Supplements Defined

The FDA defines dietary supplement ingredients as one or more combinations of the following substances:
• Herbs or botanicals
• Minerals
• Vitamins
• Amino acids
• Dietary substances to supplement the diet that increase intake (e.g. enzymes or tissue storm organs or glands)
• Concentrates, constituents, or extracts

What is 5 HTP and What Good Can It Do?

It has been found that 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) is an effective treatment for mild depression. It can control the levels of eight brain chemical called serotonin and achieve a calming effect. It appears to influence sleep patterns, overall mood, and resistance to pain. Most certain levels can result in anxiety depression irritability and the lack of patience.

You should speak with your doctor before a taking 5-HTP supplements of any kind. There have been reports of adverse side effects and interactions with other medications that are used to treat bipolar disorders associated with this supplement. Furthermore, 5HTP simply cannot be regarded as a replacement for bipolar medications.

What is DHEA and what good can it do?
Until you are about 25 years old your body produces its own supply of a hormone called dehydroepiandosterone (DHEA). At that point production of the hormone declines and may eventually stop altogether. DHEA is touted by advertisers as having anti aging properties and anti-depressive properties. Many of us who are past the age of 25 might feel happy to feel 25 again, but claims made for this hormone have yet to be proven conclusively true. Some studies on patients with Addison’s disease showed promise while other studies on patients who were HIV positive appeared to have little effect on mood or well being. Side effects of the DHEA are few.

What about St. John’s wort?
Herbal therapy with St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) has shown encouraging results for alleviating the symptoms of mild depression. It appears to act on or in conjunction with the same three brain chemicals associated with bipolar disorder, serotonin, epinephrine, and dopamine. It would still be advisable to consult your doctor before commencing therapy with this herb.

The answer to that somewhat provocative question is No. People with bipolar disorder cycle between two very opposite emotional states. These two states are often called mania and depression. Although it is true that bipolar people can experience more normal emotional states for extended periods of time even when they are not being treated for their condition, bipolar disorder cannot be spoken of as being prevented even if its symptoms are completed controlled.
This mental illness doesn’t discriminate according to age, gender or ethnicity, but its occurrence can be traced among generations of families.

Warning Signs
When we use the word “prevented” in the context of bipolar disorder we can only be discussing the prevention of its symptoms from occurring or escalating in the behavior of individuals. One good way of preventing the symptom of this mental illness from occurring is watching for the warning signs of the disorder.

What science has concluded regarding therapeutic efforts for bipolar disorder is that they should for the most part seek to prevent symptoms from recurring after a bipolar episode.

Essentially the symptoms and signs of bipolar disorder are two extremely abnormal mood states.
Symptoms of the abnormal state known as mania include restlessness, excessive energy, recklessness, euphoria, delusion thinking, excessive talking, extreme spending and generosity, drug and alcohol abuse, high-risk sexual encounters, less need for sleep, feelings of immense power, grandiose business schemes and hallucinations.

Symptoms of the abnormal state known depression include a sense of worthlessness and sadness, weeping uncontrollably for little apparent reason, an inability to sleep or take pleasure in anything, excessive sleeping, slow speech, changes in appetite, drug or alcohol abuse, suicidal ideation and inexpiable aches or pain.

Treatment
Lithium and Lamictal are commonly used to treat bipolar disorder. Both are regarded by psychiatrists as mood stabilizers. Should these medications fail to achieve their intended effects other psychiatric medications such as mood elevators, sedatives and antidepressants may be prescribed for persons with bipolar disorder.

There is a longstanding tradition of using psychotherapy to treat bipolar disorders as well. This type of therapy can help a patient develop and maintain coping mechanisms that will allow them to handle the everyday ups and downs of life. It may also be designed to encourage them to take their medications since extremes of mood can make it hard for a patient to act according to their own best interests in the wake of heightened euphoria or profound depression.

Family counseling can also be important for maintaining a stable psychological environment for the bipolar patient. Bipolar disorder can be particularly hard on family relations.

Group counseling can be of special benefit to bipolar persons who mistakenly believe that they are the only individuals on earth who feel the way that they do.

If they are fortunate enough to receive an appropriate amount of personal, psychological and medicinal care many individuals with bipolar disorder can live happy and productive lives with minimal or absent symptom logy. Treatment of symptoms often involves some trial and error since each case of bipolar disorder is different.