What is Bipolar disorder and it symptoms? What are the causes and best treatments for bipolar disease?

What Is Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is characterized by extreme episodes of mood swings, rapid shifts in mood, low self-esteem, and a distorted sense of reality. It has many subtypes, including bipolar I, bipolar II, and cyclothymia. If someone exhibits certain symptoms with each type of bipolar disorder during an episode, they can be diagnosed with any of the subtypes.

Symptoms of bipolar disorder and its types

In general, however, persons with bipolar I, which includes most common depressive symptoms, typically experience only moderate or few symptoms. A person with major depressive symptoms often experiences depression. In addition to having mild or few clinical features such as depression and anxiety, a person will also experience loss of interest, change of thought, trouble making decision, loss of energy, irritability, restlessness, sleep disturbance, and so on.

People diagnosed with bipolar II, which includes most psychotic symptoms, usually experience intense mood episodes that last longer and/or have more severe symptoms. Also known as psychosis, this particular form of bipolar disorder includes hallucinations that cause delusions, grandiosity, and delusion, which is when a person believes something untrue about a situation. Such people can also exhibit negative symptoms such as anger, inability to work effectively, low motivation, excessive and unnecessary activity, difficulty concentrating in school, poor performance at workplace, and lack of trust to others.

People diagnosed with bipolar III, or manic and mixed reactions, usually experience fewer negative symptoms and do not suffer from hallucinations. People who go through both types of bipolar disorder will also exhibit various personality and behavioral characteristics, so people can be diagnosed with two different types of bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis

Psychotic patients with bipolar II are found to need hospitalization or emergency room evaluation after experiencing a serious episode of mania, hypomania, bipolar I or II, or other psychotic illness. This can be difficult if the patient is not able to handle the mental health care provided or feels like it cannot get better and return to normal life. However, the hospitalization or emergency room evaluation can be useful for finding out whether there is a possibility of a medical problem of substance abuse, drug use, domestic violence, or substance dependency.

Patients who suffer from these conditions can benefit from outpatient therapy to help them manage their condition. One particular treatment option used for treating schizophrenia, bipolar II, or bipolar I is cognitive processing therapy (CPT). CPT works to improve how the brain processes information by teaching the right brain hemisphere (the left) to process verbal thoughts and language. Because this part of the brain is primarily responsible for mental awareness, verbal language comprehension, speech, and writing, using CPT can help improve learning and memory.

Also known as group therapy, this method helps strengthen interpersonal communication skills so patients can open up to one another and share their feelings and ideas.

Another treatment option is exposure therapy. Exposure therapy is used to help prevent PTSD. When someone commits suicide, he or she may begin to show signs of PTSD. Therefore, this treatment should be administered immediately after the patient has been assessed and diagnosed with suicide attempt. Through exposure therapy, they would practice being under surveillance, which means being watched carefully to make sure they did not commit suicide.

After being exposed, patients can gradually build up their memories of the traumatic event and start to avoid situations that trigger them. They can be taught coping strategies, such as how to write down things they can never forget, how to stay calm when feeling angry, and how to manage stressful thoughts, and so on.