Dealing With Bipolar
Some Facts About Dealing With Bipolar Disease
Any discussion about dealing with bipolar disease needs to take into account not only the person having the disease, but also a spouse or close acquaintance, who must live with the afflicted person's behavior. The presence of bipolar illness can sometimes be difficult to detect. Symptoms may be mild, and the affected person's behavioral pattern may not appear to be in any way abnormal. Even when symptoms become evident, the illness is sometimes misdiagnosed, resulting in a prescribed course of treatment which may not be effective.
The person having the disease is very often totally unaware of it. Even if episodes of mania or depression become pronounced, the ill person may go into a state of denial. Intervention by a close friend or relative may be necessary as a first step in dealing with bipolar disease. This may be easiest in those cases where a person is experiencing the classic form of the disease, where there are very noticeable swings in mood from manic to depressive. Mood swings, especially frequent mood swings, are a good indicator that something is wrong and needs to be dealt with, certainly by a professional.
The hardest form of bipolar disorder to deal with may be what is referred to as type 2 bipolar. Rather than experiencing mood swings, the type 2 individual is likely to experience periods of hypomania, low level mania, interspersed on occasion with an episode of depression. The symptoms of hypomania are typically feelings of high self-confidence and self esteem, and an ambitions attitude. These symptoms may be rather low-level, and the afflicted person may be thought of as a normal person who happens to be very ambitious, and is probably a high achiever.
Episodes of hypomania may therefore occur regularly, with nothing appearing to be amiss. However, telltale signs may surface, as abnormally rapid speech and activity, sleeplessness, and irritability. If the individual, by all accounts a top performer, swings into an episode of depression, the results can be disastrous. Super star suddenly finds himself either unable to perform tasks which were easy before, or uninterested in doing them, and take on feelings of failure. Such a situation definitely needs to be dealt with.
Medications are available to help in dealing with bipolar disease. Lithium, especially lithium carbonate, was among the first of the medicines to be prescribed. Other medications are now available, such as mood stabilizers, used to stabilize mood swings, and counteract some of the more severe symptoms.
It needs to be recognized by the parties concerned that this is a life-long and incurable disease, and treatment, once begun, normally needs to be ongoing. People with bipolar disorder can lead normal lives, and can take heart in the fact that many famous people have suffered from the disorder. In most instances, most were unaware that these people had the disease, unless it was made public. If you were to look at a list of famous people, there might be some names which would not surprise you, Edgar Allen Poe for example. Other names, like Art Buchwald, Teddy Roosevelt, or Sir Isaac Newton, might be a surprise.
The best way in dealing with bipolar disease is likely a combination of things. Medication may well be a necessity, but the support of friends, family and loved ones is every bit as important. Rather than dwell on the fact that the disease is incurable, the patient needs to understand that it is controllable, and the ability to lead a normal life is, in most cases, highly probable, once an ongoing program of treatment is under way.