Bipolar Disorder: Catherine Black from TV Series Black Box (Essay Sample)

Bipolar Disorder - Catherine Black from TV Series Black Box
Name
Institution
Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar is a psychological disorder that is characterized by specific periods of mania or hypomania. An example is when a patient has a diminishing need for sleep, development of an acute euphoria onset, speech that is pressured, grandiosity, racing thoughts and other examples of behavioral indiscretions. Bipolar as the name suggests is when a person oscillates between the two extremes of sadness and being happy. The person can be extremely happy in one instance and then feel depressed at another point in time. The condition is usually because of stressful issues a person may have gone through in his/her life. The treatment of bipolar disorder should not be limited to medication only. This is because medication will only deal with the symptoms of the disorder and not the causal factor of the disorder.
Other treatment methods like psychotherapy work very effectively in treating bipolar. This treatment method is able to address the issues that the person has buried deep within. DSM 5 has given seven types of the bipolar and other disorders that are related which include bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothamic disorder, medication/substance induced and other related disorders, bipolar that is as a result of a medical condition, bipolar that is unspecified and bipolar that is specified.
Symptoms of Bipolar
DSM IV has been able to identify seven symptoms that characterize an individual with bipolar disorder. Among the seven, three are also used in the diagnosis of mania. The symptoms exhibited by a bipolar patient need to have the required duration and intensity because some issues like a decreased need for sleep or distractibility are not usually visible during a clinical evaluation. On average, half of the people with bipolar usually abuse drugs and this may be a complicating factor in the presentation of the condition, its diagnosis and its treatment. Depression is usually very common in bipolar that the condition was previously referred to as manic depression. As research has discovered, recently, depression can be missing in a bipolar patient but it can also be the dominating factor depending on the intensity and frequency. The moods of in a person with bipolar will always oscillate between the two extreme poles of depression and mania (Barnhill, 2014).
Individuals who suffer from bipolar usually experience mood episodes. As the name suggests the mood episodes are experienced between the two extremes. A person with bipolar may experience extreme episodes of happiness which is classified as mania and may at other times experience depression. When depressed the individual feels helpless, weak, lonely and sad. When experiencing mania the person usually feels overly confident and very energetic. The different episodes are usually experienced with normal periods, which make the diagnosis of bipolar a bit difficult. An individual suffering the condition may also experience anxiety, irritation, and explosive anger during an episode (Ketter, 2005).
The seven types of bipolar have their symptoms, which are given below. Bipolar I disorder is known to be the most severe with a characteristic mania episode and a history of depressive episodes. The bipolar disorder II is characterized by at least an episode of mania and an episode of hypomania. The disorder also has a period of elevated mood accompanied by an increase in activity, which runs for four consecutive days and is seen the whole day. The cyclothymiacs disorder is characterized by a change in the mood that runs for two years and is persistent. An individual should have experienced the symptoms for two years to be diagnosed. It may assume to be severe due to the duration of the symptoms; it lacks the severe symptoms of mania and hypomania.
For the medication/substance induced bipolar there is clinically dominant mood disturbances with symptoms like moods that are irritable and elevated. Depression may be present or absent. A clinical exam is conducted after drug use to determine the presence of the disorder. This type of disorder causes a disturbance in an individual’s occupational, social and those functional aspects of the person. Bipolar that occurs due to another medical condition has characteristics of a mood that is irritable and elevated. The person has increased energy, which can be seen clinically. The results that are presented from the lab show the existence of a different medical condition. This disorder also causes a disturbance in a person’s overall functioning.
For the other specified bipolar, there is a disturbance in the holistic functioning of the individual by it does not portray the symptoms of the other bipolar categories. In the disorder, a person may have short episodes of hypomania usually two to three days, major depressive episodes, and a short episode of cyclothymiacs usually less than twenty-four hours. Finally the unspecified bipolar shows the symptoms of bipolar and its related disorders but it does not meet the full criteria of the disease. This type of bipolar is only identified when there is not enough information on the identified bipolar and it usually occurs in the emergency room.
Selected Character
In the series, Catherine Black is a neurologist and she has a bipolar disorder, which she has kept secret. The only person that is aware of her condition is Dr. Helen who is Catherine’s psychiatrist. Dr. Helen has been with Catherine ever since she had her first episode and is a mother figure to Catherine after her mother committed suicide. Catherine has a boyfriend known as Will who has proposed to her. She has not yet accepted his proposal. Catherine is given medications for her condition, which she goes off without anyone knowing. She has a coworker called Dr. Ian who Catherine makes out with while still with Will. She later on talks to her doctor about being off her medication and accepts Will’s proposal.
The doctor exhibits some behavior that characterizes her as a bipolar patient. There is an instance where, after making out with Ian, she goes to see will and makes passionate love with him, which could be characterized as a manic episode because this occurs after she had made out with Ian. Later on before she leaves, she throws her ring back to Will, which could be a sign of a depressive episode. Another episode is when she discovers that her sister’s daughter is actually her daughter but is not allowed to see her. The doctor thinks of committing suicide but she does not and later on confesses to her doctor. I would classify Catherine to be suffering from bipolar because she expresses some of the symptoms in bipolar and she could have inherited it from her mother who committed suicide because of bipolar.
Etiology of Bipolar Disorder
When a family member has the bipolar disorder, the rest of the family ask question like why this person or where the condition has come from. Bipolar disorder has many factors that cause it and these factors interact with each other. The condition cannot be said to be because of one person or a given factor. Many bipolar cases are because of genetics. Many people may get the condition from a person of the previous generation. In some people, it is fully manifested and they exhibit the symptoms while in others the condition may be inactive but can be activated by some conditions. These conditions include substance abuse, which may lead to the symptoms of the condition being seen in an individual (Leonard, 2012).
The condition may also be because of some stressful life events that a person goes through. An event may be stressful that a person ends up developing this condition. Events like the loss of a family member or a loved one may be one of these events. Bipolar disorder may occur in the person if he/she is not able to recover from the loss. The individual is stuck in the pain of the loss and without the help of a professional; he/she is unable to recover. If there is no closure for losses that individuals have experienced, such individual may get the condition (Lazar, 2014).
Another way the condition comes about is when a person experiences posttraumatic stress. The stress may be because of issues like rape where an individual is affected largely by the problem. The issue may also be due to stress after pregnancy especially in women. Such issues if not dealt with may develop into a permanent condition, which is the bipolar. The issues mentioned above may not be conclusive of the causes of bipolar because it is a disorder that has no specific cause. That is why its causes may vary from one individual to another. Each case of the disorder needs to be carefully examined to find its cause and not just treat all cases and have similar treatment for all cases.
Treatment of Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is majorly a psychological issue. It may have physical effects on the individual but when the psychological aspect of it is dealt with the physical aspect is also handled. A person may have reached the extreme of the disease and the only thing that can make a difference in the initial stages is medication. Most hospitals that deal with the condition usually provide medication for the patients with bipolar. The medication is majorly used to treat the intense symptoms. The drugs help lower the intensity of the...