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Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is a prominent condition which affects brains causing infrequent changes in the energy, activity levels and moods as well as the ability to carry out daily life activities. There are three major behavioral mood episodes namely main depressive, manic and hypomanic episodes. Bipolar I Disorder and Bipolar II Disorder the predominant types of disorders, even though there are other unspecified and specified related disorders. Bipolar I disorder is categorized by the happening of more than one manic episodes where the hypomanic, manic and major depressive episodes are prevalent or any two and the unique period of abnormality lasts for at least one week. With bipolar II disorder, the full-blown manic episode is not experienced, and minimum of one hypomanic as well as major depressive episode are experienced. With regards to the National Institute of Mental Health, both males and females are equally affected by the bipolar where men tend initially undergoing through the depressive episode while women will typically experience manic episode first (Merikangas, page 21). Depression Bipolar Support Alliance plays a significant role in helping people with affective bipolar and depression disorder by creating a network among the members to allow them to share information and provide support to other people with related conditions.
The bipolar disorder behavioral perspective focuses on the observable behaviors categorized by the different episodes including manic, major depressive, hypomanic and mixed episodes. The major depressive episode is portrayed by some symptoms which include depressed moods, significant loss of weight loss, changes in the sleeping patterns, fatigue, lack of concentration and diminished interest on the day-to-day life activities. One can also have recurrent thoughts of fear over traumatizing issues and have feelings of inappropriate or extreme guilt. In this episode, at least five of the mentioned symptoms are experienced where both diminished interest on the daily life activities and depressed mood in regular basis either observed by the individual or others are prevalent and occurs for more than two weeks. The manic episode persist for about one week where the person is abnormally ecstatic and experiences irritable mood. On top of the individual being irritable, he or she experiences at least four other symptoms which might include excessive and risky involvement an activity, reduced sleeping urge, inflated self-esteem, lack of concentration, participation in the high goal-directly activity and racing thoughts.
The hypomanic episode has similar characteristics to those of manic it is that it is experienced in less high frequency and it only lasts for about four days. It is observable by other people that the individual is somehow different from the normal non-depressed mood which significantly affects the normal functioning. With a mixed episode, the symptoms for both Manic and Major depressive episodes are incurred in almost on a daily basis, and they will only last for one week. In the management of bipolar disorder, the therapist uses some techniques. First, they will discuss these disorders and the effects they incur to human health (Schaffer, page 13). Second, they facilitate the improvement of communication with friends, teachers and family members as well as encouraging change on the victim’s behavior to improve the overall health. Behavioral therapy of the bipolar disorder involves the psychotherapy techniques where through the attendance of a therapy session the psychotherapist facilitates the monitors the person’s mood, a useful diagnosis, problem-solving frequency and stabilizing of the daily routine.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a useful technique of dealing with bipolar disorder through the improvement of the mania symptoms and psychosocial functioning and decrease of the lapse rate in patients. The method is based on the concept that person’s thoughts, physical sensation, ideas and are connected, and that negativity regarding feelings and thoughts will significantly affect the behavior and functionality of an individual. It is a non-pharmaceutical process of treating patients with anxiety and depression with an objective of helping them deal with the problems in a more positive way than ignoring and breaking them down into smaller parts. Changing the negative patterns in cognitive-behavioral therapy best works in taking the practical action to improve the feeling and state of mind on a daily basis. For instance, one can choose to be doing exercises during leisure time to refresh and prevent negative thoughts that run in mind during the idle time leading to depressed mood and related effects.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy works well in the treatment and prevention of the bipolar disorder. Through proper routine management and being actively involved in physical activities works well in fighting mania symptoms leading to significant healthy living standards.
Work cited
Merikangas, K., et al. “Bipolar and other mental disorders as predictors of transitions to alcohol use disorders: implications for prevention.” BIPOLAR DISORDERS. Vol. 20. 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ USA: WILEY, 2018.
Schaffer, Ayal, et al. “International Society for Bipolar Disorders Task Force on Suicide: meta‐analyses and meta‐regression of correlates of suicide attempts and suicide deaths in bipolar disorder.” Bipolar Disorders 17.1 (2015): 1-16.
Jermaine Byrant
Nicole Johnson
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