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Bipolar Treatment Plan

Treating bipolar can be as taxing and draining for the doctors and family members of the patient as it is for the sufferer. But you can devise an effective treatment plan or bipolar disorder.

  1. Identifying the Correct Phase

    • Before bipolar can be treated, it is important to observe the person or be informed as to their behavior. This is because the behavior associated with the illness varies depending on which phase the patient is going through. A doctor may happen upon a patient undergoing "rapid cycling," a condition in which the patient's thoughts are racing, and he is agitated. Or the person may be going through "mania," a state where the sufferer is usually hyperactive, unusually social and unable to sleep. Finally, a bipolar patient usually at some point will experience a crash, or period of depression. In the case of bipolar disorder, all three of these conditions are usually treated seperately by physicians.

    Prescribing Medication

    • Once the doctor has identified the phase the patient is in, the medical professional will prescribe a mood stabilizer to offset the exhibited condition. In most cases, mood stabilizers are not enough in the initial stages to quickly stabilize a person who is going through a mania phase and is unable to rest. The doctor will then prescribe a sleeping medication so that the patient's mental health can start to correct itself.

    Routine Counseling

    • Once the patient has been stabilized with medication for a period, there may be some relatively negative side effects such as weight gain or hair loss. A wise course for the family and close friends of the patient is to make sure the sufferer is undergoing counseling. It's quite normal for the patient, once she begins to feel better, to wean herself off the medication or stop taking it all together. An experienced psychologist and/or psychotherapist can supplement the medication with regular sessions in which the patient is allowed to express herself. Another benefit of counseling is that it allows a medical professional to monitor the dosages of medication and adjust accordingly. While bipolar does not necessarily have a cure, there is evidence that after sustained treatment for a number of years, the number of episodes a person experiences decreases dramatically.

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