Treatments for Bipolar Disorder (Essay Sample)

Name
Professor
Course
Date
Treatments for Bipolar Disorder
Introduction
Despite the state of treatment, bipolar disorder calls for longtime treatment. A psychiatric professional is the one person that is always in charge with the treatment. In addition, other teams are important is treatment of bipolar disorder, the team includes psychiatric nurses, social workers and psychologists. The main treatments of bipolar disorder are medication, psychotherapy and support groups.
Medications
Several medications are used in the treatment of bipolar disorder. These medications vary from those that prevent extreme low and high that may occur with bipolar disorder commonly known as mood stabilizers and those medications that help in the treatment of anxiety and depression. The following are medications for treatment of bipolar disorders:
Lithium: This medications as been used for many years as it is effective and efficient at stabilizing mood as well as extreme lows and highs of different classes of bipolar disorder. Intermittent testing of patient’s blood is very significant as lithium is a cause of kidney problems and thyroid related problems (Vitiello 2). Some of the side effects of using medication include dry mouth, digestive issues and restlessness.
Anticonvulsants: These are grouped as mood stabilizers and they include lamictal, depakote, valproic acid and stavzor. In addition, asenapine medications us always used in treatment of mixed episodes. Side effects related depend on the medication taken, but common side effects include dizziness, weight gain, and drowsiness. Seldom, other anticonvulsants lead to other serious problems like skin rash, liver problems as well as blood disorder.
Antipsychotics: some of the antipsychotic medications such as Abilify, Zypreza, Risperdal, and seroquel are important to people who don’t get benefits from anticonvulsants. One of the well known antipsychotic approved by United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of bipolar disorder is quetiapine. The use of antipsychotic medication leads to loss of memory and also causes involuntary body and facial body movement (Semenova 4).
Antidepressants: This medication is mostly taken from the symptoms portrayed. There are several antidepressants given to patients according to doctor’s prescription. The most common side effects of using antidepressant are organism and sexual desire problems.
The other medication used is symbyax (Scott 3). It combines with antipsychotic-olanzapine and antidepressant- fluoxetine. It plays two roles mood stabilizers and depression treatment. This medication has been approved by FDA for the treatment of bipolar disorder. This medication is also associated with sexual problem.
Psychotherapy Psychotherapy is an ancient method of treating bipolar disorders. It entails several ways which is mainly helpful to the patient. It has been tried and researched and found out to be very important in treatment and management of bipolar. The following are successful methods which have been effectively been used for several occasion.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is most common form of either individual or group therapy which involves focusing on individual inward feeling towards the insight of self or the world. It involves having positive behaviors which are healthy to mind and body too. This is effective strategy which has been used severally and found out to be vital.  It has been put that individual to identify negative beliefs and behaviors and replace them with one are good for mind and health like identifying stressors and how to cope with such situation.
Pyschoeducation: is another method where you learn more concerning the condition, it involves helping the individual and the family fully understands bipolar disorder in full details knowing it will always help them to know the latest treatment and management of the disorder these help the family and individual visualize and identify warning signs of mood swings and report them promptly (Goldberg 12).
Family therapy is essential in managing bipolar disorder which involves motivation by the members to the individual to be always seeking consultative care from a family psychologist other mental health care provider. These always help the individual identify the stress within the family that predisposes the individual to the condition. It help the family keenly learn the best way to communicate in a better manner, solve upcoming trends and problems and resolve conflicts within.
Group therapy involves a collaborative management concern...