Paper Example on Treatment of Bipolar Disorder

Diagnostic Criteria

Since bipolar disorder is categorized into bipolar I and II, the diagnostic criteria vary from each other. Bipolar I disorder is characterized by mixed or manic episodes, and they are not considered during diagnosis. Diagnosis for Bipolar I disorder occurs whenever there is increased mood disturbances, which are accompanied by either distractibility, reduced sleep, a flight of ideas, increased activity or grandiosity. The criteria for the mixed episodes are facilitated by the functional impairments which necessitate an individual becoming hospitalized. Bipolar II disorder is diagnosed due to the occurrence of hypomanic episodes, which are associated with insomnia, reduced self-esteem, and risky activities (McIntyre, 2018). Therefore, for this disorder, the diagnosis criteria involve hypomania, which does not have significant depressive episodes, 2-3 days of mania accompanied by the significant depressive episodes and cyclothymic, which lasts for less than two years.

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Treatment Options for Bipolar Disorder

According to Yatham (et al., 2018), bipolar disorder is a condition which requires management of symptoms, thus reducing its effects in an individual. Treatment might include the use of medications, utilization of the daily treatment programs, hospitalization and the continued treatment. The medicines used to treat bipolar disorder consists of the antipsychotics are used whenever the depression symptoms persist. Also, doctors can prescribe the mood stabilizers which are responsible for controlling the hypomanic and manic episodes. Therefore, the use of different treatment option will help the patient to recover from bipolar disorder.

Prognosis of Bipolar Disorder

The bipolar disorders begin during adolescence to the early stages of adulthood. Most patients have higher chances of having lifetime episodes of this disorder. The euthymic intervals of bipolar disorder are minimal between the episodes, thus becoming chronic to some patients. The incidents of depression and mania last for three months whenever a patient receives treatment. Lifetime events tend to trigger the occurrence of bipolar disorder among individual in society (Nederlof, Kupka, Braam, Egberts, & Heerdink, 2018). Therefore, mortality rate tends to increase among the population due to untreated cases of bipolar disorder.

References

McIntyre, R. S. (2018). Pharmacological Treatment of Bipolar Disorder: 2017-2018 Update Summary. Florida Best Practice Psychotherapeutic Medication Guidelines for Adults, 20. Retrieved from https://www.medicaidmentalhealth.org/_assets/file/Guidelines/2018-Psychotherapeutic%20Medication%20Guidelines%20for%20Adults%20with%20References.pdf#page=22

Nederlof, M., Kupka, R. W., Braam, A. M., Egberts, T. C., & Heerdink, E. R. (2018). Instructions for monitoring of patients using lithium in clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of the bipolar disorder. Monitoring patients using psychotropic drugs, 85. Retrieved from https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/364654/Nederlof.pdf?sequence=1#page=85

Yatham, L. N., Kennedy, S. H., Parikh, S. V., Schaffer, A., Bond, D. J., Frey, B. N., & Alda, M. (2018). Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) and International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) 2018 guidelines for the management of patients with bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorders, 20(2), 97-170. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bdi.12609