The Importance Of Therapy For Bipolar Disorder
Research indicates that people who take medications for bipolar disorder are more likely to get better faster and stay well if they also receive therapy. Therapy can teach you how to deal with problems your symptoms are causing, including relationship, work, and self-esteem issues. Therapy will also address any other problems youre struggling with, such as substance abuse or anxiety.
Three types of therapy are especially helpful in the treatment of bipolar disorder:
Rhodiola Another Important Herbal Natural Treatment For Bipolar Disorder
This herb for bipolar disorder has been used for years for effective stress management and has also shown very promising results for people suffering from depression. It doesnt work exactly like an anti-depressant. Still, it also possesses fewer side effects making it a viable option for people with bipolar disorder that are looking for a safe and effective alternative. It has mild stimulation properties and can be beneficial as a complementary for people that are on active anti-depressants. Using it with other herbs and natural remedies for bipolar disorder can also be helpful.
Effective Personalized Strategies For Treating Bipolar Disorder
Stephen V. Sobel, MDPsychiatric Times
Effective personalized treatment recognizes bipolar disorder as a biopsychosocial disorder, but mood-stabilizing medications are the backbone of treatment. These medications fall into 3 categories: lithium, antikindling/antiepileptic agents, and second-generation antipsychotics.
Bipolar disorder causes havoc in patients lives. Even in the best of circumstances, successful treatment is challenging. Treatment targets constantly shift patients are frequently nonadherent and comorbidity is the rule, not the exception. Diagnosis of bipolar disorder is often difficult. Comorbidities need to be identified and addressed if treatment is to be effective.
The importance of an accurate diagnosis
With apologies to Charles Dickens, bipolar disorder is often experienced as the best of times and the worst of times. This polarity often causes bipolar disorder to be undiagnosed, overdiagnosed, or misdiagnosed. Bipolar disorder is associated with a significantly elevated risk of suicide. Moreover, bipolar patients often use highly lethal means for suicide.1 Contributing factors include early age at disease onset, the high number of depressive episodes, comorbid alcohol abuse, a history of antidepressant-induced mania, and traits of hostility and impulsivity.
A moving target needs moving treatment
TABLE
Factors that suggest bipolar depression rather than unipolar depression
The best treatment is prevention
The best mood stabilizer
Drug interactions
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Who Should Be Managing My Treatment For Bipolar
As you start to take more charge of managing bipolar disorder, it’s important that you choose professional people who can best support your choices. There is no doubt that finding the right support can be difficult, but you do have options. The following list can help you find someone who best fits your needs.
- a professional who knows how to correctly diagnose and treat bipolar disorder .
- a professional that understands the wide range of bipolar disorder medications and works with you to find the right medication combination.
- a team that has the time to suggest treatments other than medications alone, including one trained in psychotherapy and comprehensive treatments.
How Do I Choose the Best Medications and Professional?
Bipolar disorder is a complicated illness. The more experience a medications healthcare professional has with bipolar disorder symptoms and their considerable treatment challenges, the better chance you have of receiving optimal care. Depending on your state, physicians , nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and psychologists are authorized to prescribe psychiatric medications. Your healthcare professional should know what bipolar disorder is, how it’s best treated and what medications should and should not be used in treatment.
What Is The Best Treatment For Bipolar Depression
Medical subject headings:
One of the challenges facing clinical psychiatry is how to treat bipolar depression effectively. Surprisingly, its neurobiology and rational decisions about its treatment remain somewhat of a mystery. Recent findings have even called into question the role of traditional antidepressants in bipolar depression when other classes of drugs may be more effective first-line treatments for this illness. Setting aside the thorny question of whether antidepressants induce manic switches or rapid cycling, it seems worthwhile to consider recent clinical studies and try to make sense of their implications for the neurobiology of bipolar depression.
Treating bipolar depression with antidepressants remains a popular option in clinical practice and published guidelines. Most clinicians choose the drug or class of drugs, usually selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and bupropion, that is most effective and best tolerated. However, the recently published results from the STEP-BD project found no benefit to adding an antidepressant compared with placebo to a mood stabilizer in a large naturalistic sample of patients with bipolar I and II disorders. This intriguing finding certainly questions whether antidepressants, a common intervention for bipolar depression, are effective in the treatment of this remarkably disabling and difficult-to-manage condition.
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There Are Personality Traits That Are More Common In People With Bipolar Disorder That Arent Necessarily Related To Symptoms
Theyre not descriptions like narcissistic, depressed or irritable that only show up during episodes. These are traits that are always present, and it just so happens that we tend to have more in common than the items on the checklist used to give us the diagnosis. Here are a few examples:
- Impulsive
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What Treatment Can I Get In A Crisis
If you start to feel very unwell, or if an episode of depression or mania is lasting for a long time and your regular treatment isn’t working, you may need to access crisis services to help you get through it. This may include:
- emergency support, such as going to A& E
Is ECT ever used to treat bipolar disorder?
Electroconvulsive therapy should only be considered a treatment option for bipolar disorder in extreme circumstances. According to NICE guidelines, this could be if:
- you’re experiencing a long and severe period of depression, or a long period of mania, AND
- other treatments have not worked, or the situation is life-threatening.
If you feel like you’re in this situation, your doctor should discuss this option with you in a clear and accessible way before you make any decisions.
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Herbal Remedies For Bipolar Popular Natural Treatment For Bipolar Disorder
Herbal remedies for bipolar are one of the approaches to natural treatments for bipolar disorder have many herbs that have been used to treat neurological disorders over the centuries. Herbalists call these substances nerves, and some of these herbal remedies for bipolar are very effective in the treatment of specific symptoms of bipolar disorder.
Listed below are herbal remedies for bipolar:
- Rhodiola another important herbal natural treatment for bipolar disorder -This herb for bipolar disorder has been used for years for effective stress management and has also shown very promising results for people suffering from depression. It doesnt work exactly like an anti-depressant. Still, it also possesses fewer side effects making it a viable option for people with bipolar disorder that are looking for a safe and effective alternative. It has mild stimulation properties and can be beneficial as a complementary for people that are on active anti-depressants. Using it with other herbs and natural remedies for bipolar disorder can also be helpful.
Suicide And Treatment With Antidepressants
Suicide cannot be treated but only prevented . Research on treatments aimed at suicide prevention, not surprisingly, is very limited because of clinical and ethical problems arising if an inactive or ineffective treatment, such as placebo, were compared to an experimental intervention, with death as a potential outcome. In addition, it is virtually impossible to know when a suicide has been prevented, whereas suicidal acts or surrogate measures can be counted. Rarity of suicide, even among psychiatric patients, encourages research reliance on more prevalent measures related to suicide, including suicidal ideation, threats, self-injurious acts, or emergency interventions. However, the typically distant relationship of such measures to suicide limits their value in testing for therapeutic effects on suicide itself. Relating treatments to suicidal risks is further complicated by uncertain long-term adherence to recommended treatments . Treatments for BD considered for possible suicide-prevention include antidepressants, anticonvulsants and lithium, antipsychotics, ECT, and psychosocial interventions .
Table 3 Treatments aimed at reducing suicidal risk in bipolar disorder patients
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Homeopathy For Bipolar Disorder #1 Natural Treatment Of Bipolar
Homeopathy for bipolar disorder is a number one natural treatment for bipolar while remedies like Tarantula and Hyoscyamus can also be very helpful and can be safely used with psychotropic drugs without any side effects.
Homeopathy for bipolar disorder is an excellent alternative approach. Since its a holistic approach, it makes it possible to get to the root of the problem. Unlike conventional methods, Homeopathic remedies for bipolar disorder do not just target the symptoms. Instead, an exhaustive and comprehensive evaluation is initiated to study your previous medical conditions as well as the present situation. After that, homeopathic remedies are personalized to target your particular condition. This can be very advantageous in finding long term remedy and prevent future mood swings as well.
There is no specific homeopathic remedy for bipolar disorder, and remedies are customized for the patients. Research shows the homeopathic remedy Ignatia to be very effective in treating bipolar disorder symptoms. The chances of side effects are minimal or none, and since it contains no harmful chemical, homeopathy can be a viable option for men, women, and across all ages. Additionally, it can be combined with other natural and alternative treatments for enhanced results.
Other types of homeopathy for bipolar are listed below:
Exploring Bipolar Disorder Treatment Options
If your doctor determines that you have bipolar disorder, he or she will explain your treatment options and possibly prescribe medication for you to take. You may also be referred to another mental health professional, such as a psychologist, counselor, or a bipolar disorder specialist. Together, you will work with your healthcare providers to develop a personalized treatment plan.
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Is There A Link
The main guide that mental health professionals use for diagnoses called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition does not list narcissism as a symptom of bipolar disorder.
However, when a person with bipolar disorder experiences mania, they may display some behaviors that also help characterize narcissistic personality disorder.
Examples
- elevated energy levels
- grandiose self-perception
Due to this overlap in symptoms, a manic episode of bipolar disorder and narcissistic personality disorder can appear similar. This sometimes results in a misdiagnosis .
Also, during periods of depression, a person with a bipolar disorder might neglect caring duties, avoid social contact, or appear insensitive to the needs of others.
This most likely happens when overwhelming symptoms of depression make it hard for the person to think of others.
Meanwhile, people with narcissistic personality disorder may seem disinterested or insensitive to the needs of others, which may be based on a fear of inadequacy. They, too, may be prone to depression, which can manifest as high self-confidence.
While some symptoms of bipolar disorders and narcissistic personality disorder appear to overlap, the conditions differ in various ways:
Tips For Coping With Bipolar Disorder In The Family
Accept your loved ones limits. Your loved one with bipolar disorder cant control their moods. They cant just snap out of a depression or get a hold of themselves during a manic episode. Neither depression nor mania can be overcome through self-control, willpower, or reasoning. So telling your loved one to Stop acting crazy or to Look on the bright side wont help.
Accept your own limits. You cant rescue your loved one with bipolar disorder, nor can you force them to take responsibility for getting better. You can offer support, but ultimately, recovery is in the hands of the person with the illness.
Reduce stress. Stress makes bipolar disorder worse, so try to find ways to reduce stress in your loved ones life. Ask how you can help and volunteer to take over some of the persons responsibilities if needed. Establishing and enforcing a daily routinewith regular times for getting up, having meals, and going to bedcan also reduce family stress.
Communicate openly. Open and honest communication is essential to coping with bipolar disorder in the family. Share your concerns in a loving way, ask your loved one how theyre feeling, and make an effort to truly listeneven if you disagree with your loved one or dont relate to whats being said.
Supporting a person with bipolar disorder
What you can say that helps:
Posted by Natasha Tracy | Nov 7, 2013 | Bipolar blog, bipolar disorder, mental illness issues | 15
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How Can Talking Therapies Help In The Long Term
Talking therapies can help you:
- understand or make sense or meaning out of your bipolar disorder, and reflect on the impact it has had throughout your life
- identify early warning signs and symptoms
- develop strategies to cope with early symptoms, triggers and episodes
- make a crisis plan
- set goals and plans for staying well
“Bipolar disorder is one of those things that if you have it and it’s well controlled, you can use it productively… it’s in best interest to take meds, see shrink regularly and stay well.”
So Whats A Person With Bipolar Disorder To Do About Relationships
Its not easy to overcome the hurdles of relationships presented to those with bipolar disorder.
The key thing to remember is not to generalize and that those with bipolar disorder cannot be judged as a group any more than any other group. One person with bipolar disorder may have trouble controlling his or her anger, but this doesnt mean that all with bipolar disorder do. One person with bipolar disorder may have a string of relationships in which he or she hurts the other person, but certainly, not all people with bipolar disorder do. Internalizing the idea that you will hurt others because of a mental illness is simply false and defeating, as is the notion that someone with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder will hurt you simply because of a medical condition.
No one would suggest that those with cancer make substandard social connections because of their illness and no one should assume that might be the case because of a mental illness either.
If you or partner is struggling with bipolar and its impacting your relationship, consideronline couples counseling with a licensed therapist a convenient, inexpensive way to get back on track.
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What Are Potential Side Effects Of Bipolar Medications
Common side effects of these drugs may include:
- Nausea
- Sexual problems
Its imperative to work with your doctor or psychiatrist to manage your drug therapy. Because bipolar disorder symptoms vary greatly from person to person, it can take time to identify the best medication to manage your symptoms. Sometimes, you may need to try a few medications or combinations of medications before finding the right one.
Learning To Recognise Triggers
If you have bipolar disorder, you can learn to recognise the warning signs of an approaching episode of mania or depression.
A community mental health worker, such as a psychiatric nurse, may be able to help you identify your early signs of relapse from your history.
This will not prevent the episode occurring, but it’ll allow you to get help in time.
This may mean making some changes to your treatment, perhaps by adding an antidepressant or antipsychotic medicine to the mood-stabilising medication you’re already taking.
Your GP or specialist can advise you on this.
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Nondrug Treatments Of Depression
Whilemedications are usually the cornerstone of treatment for bipolar disorder, ongoing psychotherapy is important to help patients understand and accept the personal and social disruptions of past episodes and better cope with future ones. Several specific forms of psychotherapy have been shown to help speed recovery and improve functioning in bipolar disorder, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal/social rhythm therapy, family therapy, and group therapy. In addition, because denial is often a problem — sticking with medications can be especially tricky in adolescence — routine psychotherapy helps patients stay on their medications.
The newer types of nonpharmocological treatments of depression are:
- VNS involves implantation of a device that sends electrical signals to the vagus nerve in order to treat depression.
- TMS is a procedure which involves the use of an electromagnetic coil to create electrical currents and stimulate nerve cells in the mood centers of the brain as a treatment for depression.
- Light therapy has proved effective as an additional treatment when bipolar disorder has a connection to seasonal affective disorder. For those people who usually become depressed in winter, sitting for 20 minutes to 30 minutes a day in front of a special light box with a full-spectrum light can help treat depression.
What Is The Most Effective Treatment For Bipolar Disorder
Overview of the most effective treatment for bipolar disorder and who should be managing your treatment for bipolar.
Gold Standard for Treating Bipolar Disorder
A comprehensive approach that combines effective and tolerated medications, psychotherapy and essential lifestyle and behavioral changes is the best approach to treating bipolar disorder. Today, this is more possible as patient-centered treatment is considered the norm. This treatment style involves the person with bipolar disorder much more closely with his or her treatment than in the past. Optimally, people with bipolar disorder and their professionals work together to choose the best treatment options and change the options as needed, depending on reasonable feedback from the patient.
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Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
Transcranial direct current stimulation is another noninvasive method used to stimulate small regions of the brain with the help of a weak electric current. Increasing evidence has been gathered for its efficiency as a depression treatment. A meta-analysis was published in 2020 summarising results across nine studies concluded that active tDCS was significantly superior to sham for response , remission and depression improvement. According to a 2016 meta analysis, 34% of people treated with tDCS showed at least 50% symptom reduction compared to 19% sham-treated across 6 randomised controlled trials.