Paper Example on Bipolar Disorder

Introduction

Thomas, a 52-year-old African male is a retired Army Sergeant who works with the United States Military as a part-time contractor. He does the work of training the recruits explicitly. However, Thomas seems to be undergoing a depression due to his previous deployments to active war zones. According to him, he believes that these deployments did not affect him since he perceives it as part of the job. Thomas is married with two grown children. According to him, his relationship with his wife is fragile at its best. He smokes approximately 1-2 packets of cigarettes daily and also indulges in drinking since he left the military. His drinking and smoking habit affects his part-time work, and he does not care about the job. He is also anti-social and experiences mood swings on many occasions. Most of these problems are caused by his abuse of alcohol and other drugs. His wife also finds it hard to deal with his mood swings. He is happy for a moment and crashes into devastating depression the next moment. During such moments, he refuses to eat and lies in bed, crying for several days. Despite the efforts of his family members to persuade him to seek medical help or counseling, he refuses. During the previous week, he was admitted with complaints of panic and chest pains.

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There are possibilities of Thomas suffering from bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is a mental illness that has various effects on the human mind and body. The condition is also referred to as manic-depressive disorder, and people with the condition usually experience depression, mood swings, and mania. Grunze (2015) explains that Mania and depression are divided into three different categories which include Cyclothymia, Bipolar 1 Disorder, and Bipolar 2 Disorder. The primary symptoms of Bipolar 1 Disorder include increased mood swings. The mood swings affect one's activities at home, work and also at school and interfere with Thomas' relationship with his wife. He also cannot perform well at work, and the boss has on many occasions threatened to sack him. According to Grunze (2015), the mood swings cause effects such as aggressive behavior, extreme optimism, getting irritated or agitated easily, delusion, lack of sleep and also abusing alcohol and other drugs. The case study suggests that Thomas takes excess alcohol and smokes about 1-2 packs of cigarettes.

According to Grunze (2015), there are a variety of causes of Bipolar I Disorder. However, the primary cause is unknown. Scientists speculate that the possible causes of the condition could be physical features of the brain. Imbalance in certain brain chemicals could also be other primary causes of Bipolar 1 Disorder. There are possibilities of the condition running with genetic lines. For instance, there are high risks of getting the condition if a sibling or even the parent is diagnosed with the condition. However, the case study fails to provide the medical history of Thomas about his family history. It is therefore impossible to establish this assertion about Thomas. However, Bora, Bartholomeusz and Pantelis (2016) assert that the condition is genetic.

Grunze (2015) explains that drug and alcohol abuse and severe stress and frequent upsetting experiences trigger bipolar 1Disorder. Possible experiences of such experiences include the death of a loved one or childhood abuse. The case study, however, does not provide any of these cases.

About the possible experiences, the military deployed Thomas in four different active war zones. In as much as Thomas insists that the active war zones did not affect him, there are possibilities of the deployment being the primary cause of his condition. His condition is not, however, a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) because he does not experience involuntary, recurrent and intrusive memories besides traumatic nightmares.

Theoretical Evaluation

Behavioral theory is directly linked to Bipolar 1 Disorder. The theory states that people acquire behaviors through conditioning (Leahy, 2015). Conditioning results from the interaction with the environment and bbehaviorists believe that our responses to the stimuli from the environment shape people's actions. It is possible to study behavior in an obvious and systematic manner despite the internal mental conditions. Leahy (2015) explains that people can be trained to engage in any task despite the genetic background inner thoughts and genetic background. The most important thing is the right conditioning. During his deployment at the active war zones, Thomas could have experienced devastating experiences which conditioned him to behave in a particular way. His behavior is as a result of him experiencing manic episodes which are often described as being excessively cheerful and being on top of the world. He would want to achieve this feeling the entire tie. It is for this reason that his alcoholic intake is high, not forgetting his excessive smoking habits. He also exhibits behaviors such as irritability, angry tirades, and hostility on some occasions. Stress factors influence bipolar disorder, and they have significant interpersonal and psychological impacts on the individual. The condition also affects the quality of life of the patient. The perfect remedy for helping Thomas is seeking help from a psychologist. The psychologist will work on dealing with the stress factors which will make Thomas feel better.

References

Bora, E., Bartholomeusz, C., & Pantelis, C. (2016). Meta-analysis of Theory of Mind (ToM) impairment in bipolar disorder. Psychological medicine, 46(2), 253-264.

Grunze, H. (2015). Bipolar disorder. In Neurobiology of Brain Disorders (pp. 655-673).

Leahy, R. L. (Ed.). (2015). Contemporary cognitive therapy: Theory, research, and practice. Guilford Publications.