Bipolar Disorder Assessment

Bipolar Disorder Assessment

Humans have different moods during specific periods. For instance, some people get moody in the morning when they wake, and some are always joyful in the morning. It is usual for people to have fluctuating moods, but with bipolar disorder, it very different since severe fluctuations in moods characterize it. Moods variation in people who have bipolar disorders is so critical to the extent that they affect our daily routines. Bipolar disorder is a type of mental disorder that causes manic depression that is characterized by emotion that ranges extreme happiness and extreme sadness. Three examples of bipolar disorder include;  bipolar 1, bipolar two, and Cyclothymic disease. Patients diagnosed by bipolar one experience one mania episode in their life, while those with bipolar two display symptoms of one extreme depressive episode and one hypomanic episode.

Cyclothymic disorder patients, on the contrary, display symptoms of severe recurrent fluctuating mood swings that last for two years. People who have bipolar disorder are likely to lose interest in activities that causes pleasure and may extremely. This first paper seeks to display symptoms of people who have bipolar disorder and the assessment procedure clinical nurses need to address when they are dealing with those patients. It further states the ethical standard that counselors apply and how they interpret the result after assessing the effect of their patients. The paper also expresses ways that counselors present their work after considering aspects such as the culture of their patients. The specific objective of the article is to provide ethical issues and assessment measures that counselors use when assessing patients with bipolar disorder. 

Symptoms checklist

When addressing patients with bipolar disorders, there are many questions that a psychiatrist needs to ask before doing any tests. The psychiatrists need to ask the patients if they display the below-listed symptoms. Patients with bipolar disorders may have the following symptoms. Firstly, their moods fluctuate with time, sometimes they have shallow feelings t and sometimes they have low moods. When they have a manic episode, they have excess energy, which makes them take excessive workloads, and get angry quickly; they are also so outgoing. Thirdly, patients with bipolar disorder also have a feeling of being isolated and discriminated that makes them have suicidal thoughts. They may also have depressive moods that make them extremely hopeless, disappointed, and unhappy.

Moreover, they are likely to experience sleeplessness or less sleep and too talkative at times. Patients with bipolar disorder may also have the symptoms of very high self-esteem and self-worthiness that they feel that they own the world. They also become easily distracted and have many racing thoughts that they cannot handle. They also are extravagant at times that they spend money on extra exciting activities. Additionally, patients with bipolar disorder can also have too much appetite and sometimes very low appetites that may cause too much loss of weight.

. The primary concern of the patient in the scenario

The patients confirmed that he experiences symptoms of too much appetite that has led him to be obese by gaining too much. He also claims that he sometimes gets angry that he is engaged in activities that that lower his anger, such as cutting down trees and going to the gym. He also states that he sometimes has suicidal thoughts and so far attempted to commit suicide is because he was a disappointment by his Islamic girlfriend since they had differences in their cultural understandings.

Additionally, he sometimes feels isolated by his family and friends at colleges, and this affects his self-esteem since he feels worthless and unwanted by everyone. Sometimes the patients wake up with a very joyful mood that he goes to the bar with friends and spends all his money by buying drinks. Sometimes he often feels a feeling of intense loneliness, especially when his friend is not around that he cries and cuts himself on the hand since he prefers physical pain than emotional pain. The patients request that everything he has shared should remain between him and the counselor, and no third party should be involved. He also claims that the ability to function at school and work is impaired. During his low phase, the patient feels weak and mostly stays at bed the whole time. Energy levels of the patients often fluctuate

Assessment tools used in this case

When a psychiatrist encounters a patient with the above characteristics, the next step is to assess the patient. For a counselor to evaluate the patient, there are tools that counselors use so that the conditions can be detected. The three tools include the bipolar spectrum diagnostic scale (BSDS), hypomanic personality scale (HPS), and the mood disorder questionnaire (MDQ) (Hentschel & Livesley, 2012). The BSDS is a scale that helps to measure the rate of bipolar disorder; it measures the percentage of the bipolar spectrum. HPS, on the other, is a semi-structured questionnaire that has 48 questions with true or false that measure the extent of hypomanic episodes and bipolar disorders in clinics. Mood disorders questionnaires, on the contrary, is a short self-reporting instrument for screening that helps to identify patients with bipolar disorder by measuring their moods

System checklist applicable to bipolar disorder assessment

The HCL -32 is the most applicable hypomanic checklist in this case since it helps in identifying and recognizing many bipolar spectrum disorders, especially bipolar two disorders. HCL-32 focuses on asking patients questions about how their high moods were like and if particular emotion, actions, and thought displayed during those times. It also contains eight difficulties and positive and negative consequences that resulted from that action, which are not part of the total score. It also includes questions such as mood elations, self-confidence, irritability, risk-taking behaviors, and anger. The totals score, therefore, gives positive responses to the 32 questions that have one point each. The HCL-32 helps in identifying the type of bipolar disorder the patient is experiencing so that the counselor will be able to give an effective measure and medicine to the patients.

Personality assessment and its application in this scenario

The personality assessment is critical when assessing w patients with bipolar disorders. The hypomanic personality scale is essential in this case since it measures aspects such as neuroticism, aggressiveness, extraversion, and distinction (Zimmerman & Dalrymple, 2019) in a patient.

These types of personality traits closely link bipolar disorders. It, therefore, means that patients are we can use some personality traits to know which specific type of bipolar disorder that the patient is suffering.

Mood disorder assessment and its application

When assessing mood disorder by the use of the mood disorder questionnaire, it helps in identifying the type of personality disorder the patient experiences. Moods assessments help counselors to rate whether patients are manic experience disorders, hypomanic, or depressive disorders (Whiston, 2017. Patients with manic syndrome are likely to have the most severe insight impairment than those with depressive episodes. Mood assessment is, therefore, very important for counselors to when assessing bipolar disorders.

Results

The patients displayed a very high probability of having a severe mental disorder that bipolar disorder. He had recurrent suicidal thoughts and three attempts to commit suicide. Depressive episodes outweighed the great moments since most of the time; he was mad. The patient’s personality traits were that of aggressiveness and irritability. The patient mostly spends his free time alone and has a feeling of loneliness and hopelessness. Many results were severe as to the extent of causing harm to the patients like he could cut himself since he prefers physical pain than emotional pain.

How bipolar disorder is scored and interpreted

The BSDS score in this scenario, in this case, is that the patient has a very high probability of having the bipolar disorder since the finding is that out of the 19 questions asked the patients answered 10 of the items that they fit him so well, and therefore 6 points were added. The likelihood of the patient having bipolar is very high since he scores 22. 0-6 points interpreted as very unlikely, while 7-12 is a low probability. 13-19 points on the hand are medium probability, and 0-6 is a very high probability. It is therefore evident that in our case, the possibility of the patient having bipolar disorder is very high. The patient is thus suffering from Cyclothymic disease since he experiences severe depression.

How assessment tools help counselors in their work 

The three identified tools help counselors identify the symptoms of bipolar disorders since there is no biological marker. They help counselors confirm the exact problem so that they may give medical explanations to their patients (Whiston, 2017. Some of the tools help in identifying which specific bipolar disorder a patient is experiencing and the extent to which the patient is suffering. It answers the question of whether the patient experiences severe cases or just simple episode that can be easily treated.

The function of assessment through the counseling process

The evaluation allows a counselor to find the signs and symptoms of the patients and complaints, and it also helps in gaining more helpful information directly from the patient. The report further helps the counselor to give effective measures and use the proper clinical procedure per the kind of bipolar disorder the patients are suffering. The primary role of clinical assessment is to guide counselors on what teaching model they should apply to the patients.

Procedure when presenting the findings 

When giving the result of the assessment of a patient with bipolar disorder first and foremost, the counselor should build a strong relationship with the patients. The counselor should handle patients in a friendly manner and ensure that he creates a trustworthy environment for them and consider professionalism. The counselor then takes a step of is familiarizing the patient with the type of disorder. Counselors should ensure patients understand what bipolar disorder is, what are the causes, symptoms, and examples of the disease. Make the patient know whether the condition is curable and the preventive measures that may help. Advice the patients on what to do when they feel depressed; and also pair their depressive episodes with positive events. For instance, if the patients are depressed, he or she can eat food that they treasure most or do something that they like. They can also surround themselves with the positive thing and people that they love.

When presenting the assessment results, the counselors should consider the aspects of culture. Patients and counselors should have varied cultural understanding in some ideas. For instance, in our case, the counselors may be from a culture that they believe that men should be strong, and they should not be depressed on relationship issues. The patients, on the other hand, believe that relationship issues should affect everybody. In such a case, the counselor should respect the patient’s culture even if he does not believe in it. The ACA Code of Ethics clearly states counselors should respect their client’s culture.

Conclusion

An individual suffering from bipolar disorders is likely to experience fluctuating mood swings with some time they are high and sometimes low. There are there forms of bipolar disorder that are Bipolar 1, Bipolar 2, and cyclothymic disorder. When counselors assess patients with bipolar disorders, they use different tools that help them determine the personality, moods, and bipolar disorder types. The assessment allows counselors to identify the proper clinical procedure and model of learning they should use when addressing the issues. Moreover, the personality and mood assessment is very crucial in bipolar disorder clinical assessment since they are related to the disorder in several ways. After the evaluation, they follow a specific procedure to present the results to their patients following the ethical standard that are presented in the ACA codes of ethics.

References

Hentschel, A. G., & John Livesley, W. (2012). Differentiating normal and disordered personality using the General Assessment of Personality Disorder (GAPD). Personality and Mental Health, 7(2), 133-142. https://doi.org/10.1002/pmh.1218

Bipolar disorder. (2018). Anxiety and Mood Disorders Following Traumatic Brain Injury, 177-187. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429471841-11

Zimmerman, M., & Dalrymple, K. (2019). 14 – Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder and Bipolar Disorder (Borderpolar): A Descriptive and Comparative Study. https://doi.org/10.26226/morressier.5d1a038357558b317a140cf8

Whiston, S. C. (2017). Principles and applications of assessment in counseling (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning

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