Treatment Options For Bipolar Disorder

A diagnosis of bipolar disorder is always serious. It needs to be treated with care and caution. However, the symptoms of this disorder can lead to suicide.

This disorder is not the same for everyone. It is actually a type of depression that is characterized by alternating episodes of depression and mania. The episodes usually last less than three months.
Bipolar disorder is also known as manic depression .

In most cases, this disorder is diagnosed when someone has a long period of depression followed by a long period of mania. At some point in time, it can occur without any symptoms, but only in the later stages of a depressive episode. During these periods, there are other behavioral changes such as grandiosity, attention problems, insomnia, irritability, and a great deal of restlessness.

Most often, when bipolar disorder is diagnosed, there is already evidence of the presence of depression in the family . The symptoms of manic depression in an individual can be confused with depression and manic episodes. There is a tendency for this disorder to be inherited, although this has not been proven.

Treatment of bipolar disorder must include medication. For children, the treatment will be supervised by a pediatrician. For adults, it will be supervised by a psychiatrist.

The treatment option available to treat this disorder is called mood stabilizers. These are mood-stabilizing drugs that help with mood swings. A major advantage of using these drugs is that they do not cause the "high" feeling. Instead, they stabilize moods and behavior . Some medications that are approved for this use are lithium, valproate, carbamazepine, phenelzine, trazodone, rifampin, phenytoin, and lamotrigine.

When bipolar disorder is diagnosed, talk therapy is highly recommended. This is because the symptoms of the disorder are not very well understood. Therefore, it is best to consult a licensed therapist who can use the patient's feelings and motives to find out the exact symptoms and possible treatment options.

When talking therapy is used, the therapist uses positive reinforcement to help the patient learn to accept his or her feelings and behavior and avoid destructive behaviors. This will be helpful to prevent the patient from making the mistake of thinking the feelings and behavior are unacceptable and can cause the patient to take drastic actions that may lead to suicide.

One of the most common treatment options for this disorder is called behavior modification techniques. The goal of these techniques is to teach the patient how to deal with changes in mood and behavior.

The patient is taught to respond appropriately to triggers that may cause the disorder. This includes learning to be more aware of what the trigger is, what symptoms to expect, and how to handle it. It also teaches the patient how to recognize when he or she is experiencing a bipolar episode and how to properly respond.

Medication is also available to help control the symptoms of depression and mania. It is also used to calm people who are experiencing mood swings. This can be useful in helping a person to control his or her behavior.

When dealing with the problem of bipolar disorder, it is important to remember that the best treatment is always the treatment that can relieve the symptoms. A combination of the medications and behavioral therapy is most effective in treating this disorder.