Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is not a single diagnoses or single illness, but more of an umbrella diagnosis covering a collection of mood-based mental disorders. Bipolar disorder is typically characterized by periods of seriously elevated mood swings that are often referred to as "manic" or "mania".

Treatment of Bipolar disorder is typically done by medication or counseling therapy. But, in order for any treatment to take place the person has to recognize there is a problem and try to fix it. It is most often first found in early adulthood, but if parents ignore it as "typical childhood angst" or "strong will" or some such nonsense it will likely go untreated for life.

Contributing factors are genetics, the makeup of one's brain as well as social and psychological factors. There is a possibility if a child is seen as bipolar the parent could be as well, increasing the likelihood of denial and lack of treatment.

The effect of non-treatment is a lifetime of radical mood swings from extreme highs to extreme lows, which can typically be seen by outsiders but not acknowledged by the person due to not accepting the diagnosis or in some cases not even remembering that such events even took place.

Manic episodes are typically found to consist of an increase in energy and the need for far less sleep over a period of time. During this time they can be increasingly irritable, have a very short attention span and be easily distracted by the goings on around them. it is common to see the person go on shopping binges or act otherwise very out of character.

It is not uncommon for people suffering from a manic episode to abuse drugs in an effort to self medicate and otherwise make poor decisions that could have long term consequences, and is more often than not very reluctant to accept responsibility for those decisions.

Hostility and violence are not unusual in cases of extreme manic episodes and suicide is more common among bipolar sufferers than the average person. For the well being of the sufferer, and the family and friends around them, it is imperative to get them treatment or, failing that, learn to effectively deal with a Bipolar for your own good as well as the sufferer. However, learning to deal with Bipolar sufferers only tells the sufferer that there is nothing wrong with them and therefore they may never get the treatment they need.

There are many degrees of bipolar disorder, and it is not even commonly agreed on among mental health professional how many "types" there are or what the differences there are between them. However, they can typically be separated by the frequency and severity of the episodes and the impact they have socially on the sufferer and their family.

Dealing With a Person With Bipolar Disorder

Dealing with somebody that has bipolar disorder is tricky at best, horrendous at worst. Whether or spouse, child, coworker, neighbor or other family member, it is challenging.

There are medications for bipolar, but these medications often have not-so-pleasant side effects, and when the bipolar patient is in their "up" swing, they stop taking it, and when they are down, they simply don't care. There is no "cure" for bipolar, so these medications must be taken for life, which is a rather lousy prospect to have in front of you and does have a personal stigma attached to it and can make the sufferer feel a little powerless and weak, which isn't good for anyone.

If the bipolar sufferer is simply someone in your local community, not family or somebody you are forced to deal with for any reason, the best course of action is simply to avoid have dealings with them if you don't need to. If it's a local parent, and your kids get along and play together and whatnot, do not let your kids play at their home if the bipolar is the only supervising parent/person. That much is simple, simply because the actions and reactions to any sort of stimulus is unpredictable and I for one certainly wouldn't put my kids in that situation.

If, however, it is somebody you need to deal with, a spouse, child, family member, coworker, etc, you do need to have some tactics ready.

For one, know and understand they are not in their right mind during fits of depression. If they are dangerous to themselves or others around them, you have to be prepared to call a clinician or have them hospitalized. It does happen and sometimes it is necessary.

Treatment for Bipolar Disorder

I have learned a lot researching for the pages of this site. Few things are more depressingly interesting than bipolar disorder. There are multiple stages of bipolar, which are typically differentiated by the ratio between days of depression and mania.

"Typical bipolar", if there is such a thing, is a lifelong prescription to mood stabilizing drugs such as lithium, carbamazepine, or divalproex / valproic acid and often it is combined with antipsychotic medication. Reports say such treatment decrease the likelihood of suicide 8 times, and seriously reduce the suffering of the person. The use of these drugs are interesting because the use of an anti-depressant can increase the frequency of mania, and vice-versa, so they need to be used in unison, accurately for each person. The medication is calibrated for each individual.

In addition to the medication psychotherapy has proven itself effective in many cases. However, that should not be interpreted as a replacement for medication, no statistical data has proven that psychotherapy can replace medication, only work well with it.

An interesting tidbit I came across said that while medication is meant to be for life, most patients stop taking it after a year, and that at a four year checkup, 41% have a decent overall outcome and 4% have died.

Patients, and loved ones, family members and the like must be willing to hospitalize the bipolar patient if severe manic episodes and depression occurs because both extremes can escalate very quickly and can lead to suicide in a state of depression and to loss of jobs, careers, reputation and more during an episode of mania.

The best chance of a successful and fulfilling life with bipolar is on the patient. They must stay faithfully on their medication, must develop a healthy lifestyle with routine exercise and stable, healthy diet. They must see a qualified doctor routinely to make sure the medications are still correct and effective and the doctor and patient must take note of and act on known behavior patterns to help stop them.

Most of all, and perhaps most difficult is to learn to trust the people around you when they say they see warning signs of an oncoming episode.