Download Mental Health and Mental Illness II

Bipolar Affective
Disorder.
What Is Bipolar
Disorder?
Everyone has ups and downs in their mood.
Bipolar disorder is a medical condition
Mood swings people have are out of
proportion, or unrelated to things going on
in their life.
 It typically manifests itself in adolescence
or early adulthood.
 It is often difficult to diagnose.
 A number of genes have been identified that
may be linked to bipolar disorder.
What is the Cause of Bipolar
Disorder?
– No single cause has been identified in
bipolar disorder.
– Research suggests it be inherited.
– It is thought to be caused by a lack of
stability in the transmission of nerve
impulses in the brain.
Symptoms of Bipolar
Disorder.
 Mania: increased energy and creativity,
which easily escalates out of a person’
control.
 lack of insight
 they may deny anything is wrong
 angrily blame others for what is happening
 feeling unusually “high”
 needing little sleep
 talking very fast
 having racing thoughts
 being easily distracted
 having increased feelings of personal
power and importance
 reckless behavior and poor judgement.
 Hypomania: symptoms are slightly
less severe, as is the person’s level of
impairment.
 Depression:
 feeling sad
 having to much or to little sleep
 an increase or decrease in appetite
and/or weight
 problems with concentration
 feeling slowed down or agitated
 low self esteem
 decreased energy
 increased fatigue
 possibly thoughts of suicide or death.
 mixed episode:
 contains symptoms of both mania and
depression.
 may present as excitable and agitated as
in mania, but feel irritable and depressed.
Patterns of Bipolar
Disorder.
 The pattern of the illness varies quite a bit
 Men’s first episode tends to be mania,
While women tend to have a depressed
episode first.
 mood changes may be mild or very
severe.
Treatment of Bipolar
Disorder.
– Treatment occurs mainly in two
phases.
– first is the acute phase.(may need
hospitalisation)
– second
phase
is
Preventative
treatment.
 Medication:
 Mood stabilizers (Lithium, Epival,
Tegretol, etc.)
 Anti anxiety (Ativan, Valium, etc.)
 Anti psychotic (Haldol, Risperidone,
etc.)
 Anti depressants (Prozac, Effexor,
etc.)
 An extremely important part of therapy
is good follow up.
 This includes:
 working with a doctor
 keep taking their medication
 monitor sleep
 support form family and friends.