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Bipolar treatment options

It is easy to get confused about bipolar treatment options, especially with the recent flood of information about bipolar disorder.

Treatment will vary according to:

1. What type of bipolar disorder you have, and

2. What phase of the illness you are in.

There are some different treatment options for treating Bipolar Type 1 versus Bipolar Type 2.

Also, treatment may be different for an acute episode of mania versus an acute episode of depression.

Treatment for the maintenance phase of bipolar disorder may be different again.

Latest bipolar disorder treatment options from the Mayo Clinic

These are not the only factors that lead to treatment variations. The picture is further complicated by how well you respond to the different options.

Other compounding factors may be:

1. The presence of another co-morbid condition such as anxiety or panic attacks or substance abuse.

2. Age

3. Your own insight into your illness and how much personal responsibility you will take for staying well.

Bipolar treatment options usually involve a combination of the following:

1. Bipolar medications to stabilize mood - the traditional mood stabilizers include lithium and some anti-convulsant drugs also used to treat epilepsy. Recently, the use of atypical anti-psychotic drugs has become popular.

2. Therapy, especially CBT, functional therapy and my personal favorite - Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy for Managing Bipolar.

Bipolar treatment options must include practical tools.

3. Lifestyle strategies - a healthly diet and regular exercise are extremely beneficial in managing both bipolar mood swings and medication side effects such as weight gain.

4. Practical tools - this inludes the use of Mood Charts, Wellness Plans, and Treatment Contracts.

Summary of bipolar disorder treatment options from Wikipedia

Bipolar medication

Lithium, lithium, lithium! Well, at least that is how things used to be.

Now the range of bipolar medications has broadened considerably - a welcome expansion to bipolar treatment options.

Some anticonvulsant drugs used to treat epilepsy have been found to have mood stabilizing properties.

Aytypical antipsychotics are also playing an increasingly important role.

The main medications used as bipolar treatment options are:

Bipolar medication remains at the center of bipolar treatment options.

1. Lithium (the classic mood stabilizer)

2. Depakote (mood stabilizer and anticonvulsant)

3. Abilify (atypical antipsychotic)

4. Geodon (atypical antipsychotic)

5. Lamictal (an anticonvulsant and mood stabilizer)

6. Seroquel (atypical anti-psychotic)

7. Trileptal (anticonvulsant)

8. Topamax (an anticonvulsant)

9. Wellbutrin (an antidepressant thought to have a low risk of causing a "manic switch")

10. Zyprexa (atypical anti-psychotic).

For my own Bipolar 1, the treatment option I have chosen is lithium.

Bipolar Type 2 treatment

The treatment of Bipolar Type 2 can be controversial.

Bipolar type 2 requires different bipolar treatment options.

Many experts can tell you all about the differences between Bipolar 1 and Bipolar 2, but are silent on whether there should be different bipolar treatment options for different types of bipolar disorder.

The big difference with Bipolar Type 2 is that in this form of the illness, you experience hypomania as opposed to mania.

Further, because of the much milder hypomania, people with Bipolar Type 2 do not experience any bipolar psychosis such as hallucinations or delusions.

However, even though the mania is much milder, to the point of being hypomania instead of "mania" as such, the episodes of Bipolar 2 depression are just as serious as depression with Bipolar Type 1.

So someone with Bipolar Type 2 needs bipolar treatment options that will be very effective in terms of dealing with depression, whereas managing mania is of less importance.

According to Dr Gordon Parker, who holds a prestigious university chair in psychiatry and who specializes in bipolar disorder, in his book Bipolar II Disorder: Modelling, Measuring and Managingthere are two broad schools of thought on bipolar medication treatment options for Bipolar II:

1. The same basic approach with a focus on using mood stabilizers such as lithium, but augmenting with Lamictal because of its strong antidepressant properties.

2. A more radical difference between how the two types of bipolar disorder are treated, with SSRI drugs and other antidepressants being acceptable as the only medication for Bipolar Type 2, with NO need for a mood stabilizer or antipsychotic.

Bipolar treatment centers

Some people feel that any form of hospitalization or in-patient care is stigmatizing.

Bipolar treatment options include a stay in a bipolar treatment center.

My feeling is that sometimes it is necessary.

Even if not strictly necessary, a stay in a bipolar treatment center provides many valuable benefits.

Bipolar treatment centers are a wonderful way - and possibly the ONLY way - to receive SUSTAINED and INTENSIVE one-on-one, personalized treatment and attention from a psychiatrist or other mental health professional with specific expertise in bipolar disorder.

Often these centers offer the only setting where you can address bipolar disorder in tandem with comorbid conditions such as substance abuse, obesity, anxiety disorder or panic attacks, and so forth.

The emphasis that many bipolar treatment centers place on holistic healing is often missing from other therapeutic interventions.

Remember, bipolar disorder treatment is about MUCH MORE than bipolar medications. Treatments centers are the ideal setting for fine tuning your medication and teaching the importance of medication compliance.

Medication may be the most important bipolar treatment option, but stress management is a critical skill.

However, they go way beyond a simple focus on bipolar meds. They teach important lifestyle skills that are also vital for managing bipolar disorder.

Finally, they provide a great opportunity for rest, reflection and a time-out. Given that stress is major trigger of episodes of both mania and depression, the importance of this "downtime" when treating your bipolar disorder cannot be over estimated.

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