Bipolar Disorder (BD)
At least one percent of the world population suffers from Bipolar Disorder (BD). According to Grande et al. (1), affective disorders have different severity from unipolar, Bipolar I up to Bipolar II. However, women are more prone to Bipolar II. In their study, Grande et al. (1) aimed at examining aspects of BD such as its causes and prognosis, discuss cases of interest such as BD during pregnancy and survey trends in the treatment of BD.
BD is also called manic depressive illness. It is an extreme mood disorder that manifests as mania, hypomania, and depression. Mania and hypomania are characterized by increased movement and elevated moods. In both, occupational and social functioning may or may be weakened to the extent of hospitalization or may not be weakened completely. For hypomania, episodes continue for four days.
Diagnosis of BD using phenomenology-based methods is controversial and has several limitations. It involves interviews with patients and their relatives. BD starts with episodes of depression. Bipolar depression begins early and may develop together with psychosis. Patients with BD are very likely to attempt suicide; about a third to a half of BD patients attempt suicide. Also, BD is hereditary. Although BD has times of remission, ignoring medication may lead to its reoccurrence. Depressive polarity in BD leads to suicide, while manic polarity causes substance abuse.
BD treatment is of two kinds, acute and long-term management. Acute management focusses on enhancing the safety of patients and relatives by administering mood stabilizers, antidepressants, and antipsychotics. Electroconvulsive therapy may also be used for intense episodes. On the other hand, long term treatments involve pharmacological, psychological, and lifestyle approaches such as lithium treatments, interpersonal therapy, social rhythm therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy.
Special populations for BD include pregnant women and adolescents. Affected couples get preconception counseling for teratogenic drugs. Early identification of BD among adolescents is important because it affects their development. For safety, monitoring patients is crucial to check for comorbidities and lithium levels. In conclusion, in the future, it would be prudent to create a translational approach from past progress in molecular biology, genetics, and neuroimaging