What Are the Treatments for Bipolar Disorder?

It can be difficult to deal with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, although it can also be a relief for patients who don't have an explanation for their wildly changing moods. There are several effective treatments for bipolar disorder. Therapy can also help people with bipolar disorder, especially with keeping control over lifestyle issues that can exacerbate their illness.

Identification

• Bipolar disorder is a mental illness in which a person's mood changes dramatically. Specifically, people with bipolar disorder experience manic periods, in which they have an excess of energy and may become irritable, impulsive and unable to concentrate, and depressive periods, which are characterized by sadness and lack of energy. There are different types of bipolar disorder, which vary in the number of manic episodes experienced and in severity.

Mood Stabilizers

• Mood stabilizers help even out the highs and lows experienced by people with bipolar disorder. Lithium, a type of chemical salt, is the most commonly used mood stabilizer. Valproic acid, more commonly known as Depakote, can also be used to stop mood cycling. Anticonvulsants like lamotrigine (Lamictal), gabapentin (Neurontin), and topiramate (Topamax) are sometimes prescribed to treat bipolar disorder. While these drugs were originally designed to stop epileptic seizures, they can also act as mood stabilizers. Mood stabilizing drugs have a variety of side effects, depending on what type of drug is used.

Antipsychotic Medications

• Atypical antipsychotic medications can help people with bipolar disorder who suffer from severe bouts of mania. Olanzapine (Zyprexa), aripiprazole (Abilify), quetiapine (Seroquel), risperidone (Risperdal), and ziprasidone (Geodon) are all used for this purpose. They can also help maintain a steady mood balance. These drugs are often used to supplement other types of medication for bipolar disorder. Atypical antipsychotic medications can cause weight gain and can raise a patient's risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Antidepressants

• Antidepressants may be commonly used to treat the depressive episodes of bipolar disorder, but it's uncertain whether they have any actual positive effect on the condition. They're usually prescribed along with a mood stabilizer, but a large-scale study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health found that bipolar disorder patients who took both an antidepressant and a mood stabilizer were no less depressed than patients who took a mood stabilizer alone.

Therapy

• Psychotherapy can help a person with bipolar disorder deal with the everyday problems of living with the condition. Cognitive-behavioral therapy can help patients deal with negative thought patterns they may have created, while interpersonal and social rhythm therapy teaches patients how to deal with others and how to manage bipolar illness. Family therapy is also a good option. During family therapy, the whole family will learn how to deal with their loved one's bipolar disorder.

Other Treatments

• Electroshock therapy (ECT) may be used in very severe cases of depression or mania, or when medication cannot be used (for example, when a bipolar patient is pregnant and the medication would harm the developing fetus). Sedatives can help with the poor sleep patterns that are a symptom of bipolar disorder.