Bipolar disorder: how to overcome bipolar disorder?
Written by: Loris Vitry (holistic coach)
Validated by: Cathy Maillot (Osteopath)
Caution: If you have any medical questions or concerns, please speak to your doctor. Even if the articles on this site are based on scientific studies, they do not replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Still known as manic-depressive illness, bipolar disorder is a psychiatric illness.
This dangerously affects the victim’s mood.
Sometimes inherited, it can be the result of sad life events and acute stress in a person.
There are several ways to treat bipolar disorder.
To do this, you must first know how to recognize a bipolar person and the different stages for recovery.
How to recognize a victim of bipolar disorder?
In order to cure this disease, it is necessary to know the signs.
Manic-depressive illness caused by stress manifests itself in two phases: the depressive phase and the manic phase.
Each phase is identifiable thanks to a set of characteristic features.
The phase of depression can be recognized by:
- a lack of energy;
- difficulty concentrating;
- sleep disturbance;
- feelings of guilt;
- loss of self-confidence;
- loss of sexual desire;
- unusual eating;
- and cravings for suicides.
These different signs will surely appear in the daily life of an affected person.
However, its symptoms are difficult to recognize when depression is smiling.
Smiling depression simply means that the life the victim is leading shows no signs of illness.
In addition to smiling depression, there is also seasonal and postpartum depression.
The first, as the name suggests, is linked to the season of the year.
On the other hand, postpartum depression occurs in women after pregnancy.
Regarding the manic phase, we can cite as symptoms a need to express oneself, overconfidence, a feeling of superiority, exaggerated pleasure, a sudden change of mood and an unusual financial expenditure.
Sometimes these symptoms may be less obvious.
In this case, we speak of the hypomanic phase.
People with the disorders are often beyond the teenage years.
In the course of the disease, they often alternate between these two phases.
How to diagnose manic depression?
In order to find out if a person suffers from bipolar disorder, it is recommended to make a diagnosis.
However, several obstacles are encountered.
First, the disease is detected late, and the later it is detected, the more difficult the treatment will be.
This delay is due to the difficulty of perceiving the manifestations of the disease.
In addition, the doctor treating the victim struggles to detect the symptoms because he is not in constant contact with the patient.
In other cases, it is another kind of depression.
This is why the best choice for a diagnosis is to go to a psychiatrist.
The latter’s experience will allow better care of the victim.
The latter, to carry out the diagnosis in the patient, will proceed in two parts.
First, he will do an analysis of the patient’s mental health.
He will therefore question him about the previous treatments, the symptoms and the causes of the individual’s condition.
This is the psychiatric history.
In the last phase, it will be a question of whether the patient’s condition is not related to the medication received or to other illnesses.
This phase is useful in that other illnesses can affect your mood.
Epilepsy, hyperthyroidism or AIDS fall into this category.
Also in the context of the diagnosis, relatives or members can be contacted by the psychiatrist.
They will be able to effectively make a precise presentation of your condition, which will be very useful for the rest of the diagnosis.
After the examination, the psychiatric can tell you whether or not you find bipolar disorder.
In the event of a positive opinion, you should consult a specialist in your disease or a psychologist.
How to treat bipolar disorder?
There are several ways you can treat bipolar disorder.
We distinguish between preventive treatment and treatment of the depressive and manic phases.
Preventive treatment is useful for relapse in some patients.
Its role is to stabilize their mood by limiting the successive manifestation of the two phases.
This treatment requires input and support from those around the patient.
Also, drug treatments added to psychotherapy will be of essential help.
The choice of drugs for treatment is up to the doctor alone.
He will initially use medication to analyze the patient’s reactions.
Among the various drugs offered, we find lithium salts.
It is a very effective mood stabilizer and has been around for several years.
Lithium salts aren’t the only mood regulators on the market.
We also have valpromide, divalproate, carbamazepine, and sodium lamotrigine.
Some drugs originally designed to fight brain disorders are sometimes offered.
They are called antipsychotics.
Olanzapine and risperidone are among them.
In terms of psychotherapy, several solutions are available to the patient.
He can do therapy to control his emotions and improve ties with those around him.
Psychotherapy and mood stabilizers are also recommended for depressive or manic phases.
When agitation becomes regular, sedation becomes necessary.
The drug treatments may also have no effect on the patient.
In this case, seismotherapy is an option.
For better follow-up and good treatment, the doctor may decide to hospitalize the patient.
What other treatments are available?
Psychotherapy, medication and hospitalization seem to be the only treatments available to treat the disease.
However, there are other ways to heal.
Meditation and acupuncture are also interesting alternatives.
Meditating regularly is effective in dealing with states of anger and depression.
This will allow you to improve your ability to manage your mood under certain conditions.
Against stress, acupuncture is an excellent solution.
In addition, according to several studies, its effects may be beneficial for the treatment of bipolar disorder.
Manic depression is a disease that should not be overlooked.
It affects the victim’s mood by causing him to behave in unusual ways.
These are numerous and vary depending on the phase of the disease.
For a good treatment, it is important to have a diagnostic examination with a psychiatrist in order to know the treatment to follow.
Between psychotherapy, medication, hospitalization, meditation and acupuncture, several treatments can help to heal.
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