Research Paper Example: Bipolar Disorder Assessment and Treatment

Bipolar 1 condition is a bipolar condition characterised by the occurrence of more than one mixed manic or episode. Most victims of this disorder also at a point in time, experience one or more depressive episodes and besides this, they are affected by hypomanic (Carvahlo, 2017). It is worth noting that this condition is in line with the classic concept of illness associated with manic depression. This depression can include the psychosis of the victim blood during the occurrence of the episodes.

DSM-V clinical centre

One of the essential characteristics of bipolar 1 is a clinical course. The clinical course makes the victim of this condition to experience one or more episodes associated with manic. Moreover, the victim may also experience mixed episodes (Suppes, 2012). For the diagnosis of bipolar one disorder, it is vital that the below criteria should be observed for a manic episode. Similarly, the manic event may be followed by hypomanic or essential series of depressive episodes. A different period that is characterised by abnormality and persistently elevated, expansive or moods that are irritating should act as the first diagnosis. If this conditions last for more than one week and being persistent for most of the days, then hospitalisation should be the next course of action (Stahl, 2000).

During the time of mood inconvenience and increased activity, the following symptoms will be present to signify a change on the behaviour of an individual: first, there will be inflated self-esteem, the victim experiencing reduced urge of sleeping like for instance feeling exhausted and restless only after three hours of sleep. In addition to this, a person will become more talkative than usual and finally increased involvement in activities that have a high degree of causing pain (Caponigro, 2013).

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The paper will aim to look at bipolar one disorder regarding its characteristic, the symptoms, and how to get rid of this condition. This condition is also referred to as manic-depressive merely manic depression. This state is a brain disorder that if not diagnosed early and treated may affect the mental status of an individual (Goodwin & Marneros, 2005). This condition makes an individual to experience a shift that occurs between elevated moods and depressions that occur seasonally. Notably, people who suffer this situation may feel like they matter and they are actually at the top of the world before eventually being plunged into a depression. In addition to this, the period of which a person is feeling high and the time he is feeling low varies from person to person.

There are specific terms of this condition that we should be well acquainted with. Melancholy which originates from the word meals which means black and chole, which refers to bile. It is because the Hippocrates believed that, the main reason that was causing depression was excessive black bile. Another terminology is the word mania which means spirit or force. To begin the paper, I will have to take you through the overview of this condition.

In the modern world of today, bipolar 1 disorder is one of the neurological conditions that are causing sleepless nights to researchers. This situation has no discrimination, and it affected all gender (Suppes, 2012). The existence of links between mania and depression was evidently experienced in Greece in the first century. In the early 17th century, there was a Swiss physician called Theophilus bonnet who connected mania and melancholy and came up with a name manic-melancholic. However, the recent psychiatric idea of bipolar 1 disorder draws its origin in the 19th century. In the early 19th century quite some different neurologist and psychiatrist separately presented a description of this condition to the field of academic. The main reason for this was to create awareness and also to expand the knowledge of this situation (Carvahlo, 2017).

Other than an overview of this disorder we now look at the types of this condition. To create more insight of understanding of this situation, there exist three types of this state. That is bipolar 1, Bipolar II and cyclothymia. It is not still quite explicit for researchers and doctors to what is the cause of this disorder. However, current theories assert that bipolar may be caused by a mixture of biological, heritable and other factors associated with the environment (Stahl, 2000). Moreover, scientists have thought that brain circuits of an individual that is involved in the regulation of mood and energy may at times not function in the usual way in people experiencing bipolar. It will, in turn, result in other changes that are associated with illness.This condition if not well diagnosed and attended to at an early stage can affect other parts of the body of an individual.

Symptoms of bipolar 1 disorder

The symptoms of bipolar 1 can occur in different forms. Bipolar 1 diagnosis needs a minimum of one manic episode in an individual life with a total duration of seven days or more. For one to be considered to be having a manic episode, a severe impairment must be seen in the person. This impairment will be observed in the social life of the individual and even the occupational functioning of the individual. Moreover, the individual may be hospitalised as a result of this condition (Goodwin & Marneros, 2005).

A manic episode will be characterised by mood inconvenience and disturbance, irritation and excess expansiveness. In summary, the following are the symptoms of bipolar 1 sign of mania: reduced need to sleep, grandiosity, and pressured speech, excessive associated with painful effects, distractibility, and increase the level of goal-focused activities at work or home and flight ideas.

The second perspective of looking at the symptoms is in depression, which is merely bipolar 1 symptoms of depression. We should note that this condition needs the existence of significant depressive episodes. A notable depressive episode should consist of either a depressed mood or individual having a loss of pleasure for at least two weeks. Bipolar 1 symptoms of a significant incident must cause a major impairment or distress and must not be illustrated by another illness. The primary symptoms under this headline include too much weight loss or even gain, increased loss or gain of appetite, too much sleeping or too little sleep, fatigue, the victim feeling guilty, and victim thinking of committing suicide, reduced concentration and loss of energy (Carvalho, 2017).

Finally, the symptoms of Bipolar 1 signs of a mixed episode. It may be diagnosed as both depressed and manic episode. The depression presents itself only in one week. To summarise the symptoms of this condition, one should be wary of the changes that are taking place in the patient's body. Once one has started to experience the symptoms above, he should not be shy but to seek medical attention from his or her health service provider. It is essential because it will avoid causing deformity to other parts of the body organs and also to reduce unnecessary cost and inconvenience.

Treatment

This condition can be treated. This state can be a persisting condition when it affects an individual because it has got significant effects. If this situation goes untreated, then it can cause catastrophic effects on the body (Stahl, 2000). A manic episode in bipolar one disorder requires the patient to be subjected to drugs. The drugs include mood stabilisers and antipsychotics and some of the sedative-hypnotics including benzodiazepines among other medications. Lets now get to explore the medications in details. To start with mood stabilisers, one of the mood stabilisers is lithium which exists in pill form. It is useful in controlling mania that is associated with classical euphoria instead a combination of mania and depression. Lithium has been widely used for many years for the treatment of disorder this is because it only takes a few weeks to show improvements on the victim (Suppes, 2012).

Lithium has an extra advantage in treating this disorder since it measures the blood levels and the kidney and the thyroid functioning of the individual body. It monitors other organs of the body of the victim to avoid the side effects on the body. Another drug that can be used to level the moods is Valproate. It is an antiseizure medication which is even capable than lithium for an acute episode associated with mania. Moreover, it allows for the possibility of drastic improvement in the body of the victim as early as five to six days. Some examples of antiseizure drugs are carbamazepine and lamotrigine.

Apart from mood stabiliser, Antipsychotics can also be an alternative which can be used to treat a severe episode. Examples of Antipsychotics include Haldol and Loxapine as well as newly developed drugs such as atypical antipsychotics which may be necessary.Another drug for the treatment of this disorder is the use of Benzodiazepines. It is a different type of class of drugs, and it includes alprazolam and diazepam. This group of drugs is in most cases used as a short-term control of a victim experiencing acute symptoms that are associated with mania. It should be noted that this medication does not treat core moods symptoms such as depression (Caponigro, 2013).

Finally, antidepressants can as well be used to treat this disorder. Common antidepressant includes fluoxetine, paroxetine, and sertraline. However, this group of drugs has been found not to be useful for treating depression. In some percentage of people, they can also set off or worsen a manic episode in a person having unipolar depression. In some individuals, this group of drugs has been found to be effective.

Conclusion

Bipolar 1 disorder causes an unusual shift in moods of an individual energy and activity levels. Moreover, this condition is associated with long-term effects if not properly attended to early. And on seeing such symptoms as the reduced appetite of sleeping and feeling of restlessness, the person should not hesitate but to see a doctor. However, this condition can be treated with such drugs such as mood stabilisers, use of antipsychotics and sedative hypnotics. Finally, lets be wary of the changes taking place in our body and fight and get rid of this disorder in the society.

References

Goodwin, F. K., & Marneros, A. (2005). Bipolar disorders: Mixed states, rapid cycling, and atypical forms. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

Stahl, S. M. (2000). Essential psychopharmacology of depression and bipolar disorder. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press.

Carvalho, A. F. (2017). The treatment of bipolar disorder: Integrative clinical strategies and future directions. Oxford University Press.

Suppes, T., Dennehy, E. B., & Suppes, T. (2012).Bipolar disorder assessment and treatment. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Caponigro, J. M. (2013). Bipolar disorder: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed. Oakland: New Harbinger Publications.