Treatment for Bipolar Disorder

Medications for Bipolar Disorder

If you have bipolar disorder, you will need medication. You will need medication for the rest of your life.

Bipolar disorder is a real medical illness. Taking medication is just like taking medication for high blood pressure or heart disease.

Along with medication, ongoing psychotherapy has an important role in treatment for bipolar disorder. During therapy, you can discuss feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that cause you problems. Therapy can help you understand and overcome any problems that impair your ability to function well in life. It also helps with medication compliance and helps you deal with effects of bipolar disorder on your social and work life. Also it can help you maintain a positive self-image.

Types of psychotherapy used in the treatment of bipolar disorder are: Behavioral therapy; this focuses on behaviors that decrease stress. Cognitive therapy; this type of therapy involves learning to identify and modify the patterns of thinking that accompany mood shifts. Interpersonal therapy; this involves relationships and aims to reduce strains that the illness may place upon them.

Bipolar disorder distorts your view of things; medication assists seeing more clearly.

Doctors use a number of different classes and brands of drugs to treat bipolar disorder.  Treatment for bipolar mania may include lithium, anticonvulsants, antipsychotics, and benzodiazepines.

Many people who have bipolar disorder keep taking these medications for years after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder manic to stay healthy. This is called maintenance therapy for bipolar disorder.

During a period of bipolar depression, you might need other medications. Lithium and other mood stabilizers, antipsychotic drugs, and sometimes antidepressants are used to treat bipolar depression. For bipolar patients with severe mania or mixed episodes an antipsychotic medication combined with either lithium or the anticonvulsant Depakote is the drug of choice.

Anticonvulsants offer more treatment options for those with bipolar disorder.  Anticonvulsants may be combined with lithium or with other anticonvulsants for optimal effect. Some commonly used anticonvulsants include Lamictal, Depakote, Tegretol, and Trileptal.

For some it may seem that there life is in the control of a doctor or therapist. But the actually you have the control over any medications by taking control of your symptoms of bipolar disorder.  A life long medication regime may seem to be the end of your normal life but in reality it is the beginning of a new life with recovery.