Analysis: Chronic Illness

Bipolar I is identified by the length and severity of the manic and depressive episodes. The manic episodes must last for at least seven days or they must be so severe that a person requires immediate hospitalization. The depressive episodes last around two weeks. These episodes, both manic and depressive, must be an extreme, major alteration from the person’s normal behavior. An effective treatment plan for bipolar I includes medication and psychotherapy. The medication helps with stabilizing a person’s mood and the psychotherapy is for the prevention of relapse and the reduction of symptom severity. Many people with bipolar I take combination medicine treatment. The treatment includes a mood stabilizer; sometimes an anticonvulsant other times a non anticonvulsant, and an antidepressant, to help reduce depression episodes. Doctors prescribe both an anticonvulsant and an

“Bipolar disorder, also commonly known as manic depression, is defined as a serious mental illness in which common emotions become intensely and often unpredictably magnified. Individuals with bipolar disorder can quickly alternate from extremes of happiness, energy and clarity to sadness, fatigue and confusion. All people with bipolar disorder have manic episodes abnormally elevated or irritable moods that last at least a week and impair functioning. But not all become depressed ” (American Psychological Association, 2015). Bipolar disorder can vary in each individual. The symptoms fluctuate in pattern, severity and rate of recurrence. Some people are more susceptible to either mania or depression, while others change proportionately between the two types of episodes. Some have frequent mood disruptions, while others live through a few throughout their lifetime.

Thankfully, there are various treatments and therapies, which can help manage bipolar disorder in an individual. Since all patents are different, experimenting with multiple treatments is always a good idea, to help figure out what will work best for them. Medication is a main and most popular route, including mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, and antidepressants (“National Institute of Mental Health”). Unfortunately, medications can have their downsides and often getting the patient to regularly take their medication is one of the biggest challenges. Another option for the patient to consider is psychotherapy. This includes different kinds of verbal therapy such as cognitive and behavioral therapy (“Bipolar Disorder”). Therapy is not only helpful for the affected person but also can help the family cope. Lifestyle changes such as healthier lifestyle, organized schedule, and the limitation of alcohol and drug consumption, can contribute to managing this disorder. Overall though, this disorder affects everyone differently, and the patent needs to consult a doctor and psychiatrist to figure out what will help them handle their symptoms the most

There is more to the treatment of bipolar disorder than medication, but the medication Lithium has been the primary treatment since the 1960’s. In four studies

Bipolar disorder is a mental illness which causes extreme mood swings in which the person would have times of emotional highs (manic or hypomania) and lows (depression), with periods of normal mood in between. Bipolar can affect relationships and the ability to carry out day to day tasks.

Bipolar disorder also known as manic depression that causes multiple unusual mood swings; dealing with manic highs and depressive lows. It may also affect their ability to do everyday tasks. When depressed, there is a sense of hopelessness and sad. Even in regular activities person with disorder will lose interest. Person will deal with low energy and low energy. Also, they may deal with a feeling of euphoria, full of energy. These patterns will cause the person to lose sleep, affecting their energy, way of thinking, and activity. Bipolar disorder is a serious brain illness.

The topics discussed in chapters six through ten focused on injuries, health risks, prevention of health conditions, pain, specific health conditions such as obesity, and the effects of chronic illnesses. These chapters caused me to reflect on both the physical and psychological effects that various health conditions can have on people. Our mindset can have a direct effect on how we cope with illnesses as well as increase or decrease our risk for developing new conditions. Proper education about health risks and conditions that are becoming more prevalent throughout society can help in the development of new treatment methods and ways to avoid the onset of certain illnesses.

Bipolar Disorder or manic-depressive disorder is a disorder characterized by highs, manias, and lows, depressions, and can therefore be easily distinguished from unipolar depression, a major depressive disorder in DSM-5, by the presence of manic or hypomanic episodes (Miklowitz & Gitlin, 2014). Bipolar disorder is generally an episodic, lifelong illness with a variable course (American Psychiatric Association, 2010). There are two classifications of bipolar disorder; bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder. If the episodes are primarily manic but there has been at least one depressive episode, the diagnosis is bipolar I disorder (Early, 2009). If the episodes are primarily depressed but there has been at least one episode of hypomania, increased mood that is more euphoric than normal but not quite manic, the diagnosis is bipolar II disorder (Early, 2009).

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, is more than just ordinary mood swings. People suffer from periods of mania to periods of depression. Bipolar disorder is a significant medical condition that is a great health interest in America (Hopkins Medicine). The number of people being diagnosed with bipolar disorder increases every year; therefore, the importance of education and understanding of this disorder also increases because it can affect so many people’s lives.

2). Depressive episodes also have distinct symptoms: “an overly long period of feeling sad or hopeless, loss of interest in activities once enjoyed, including sex, feeling overly tired or “slowed down,” having problems concentrating, remembering, and making decisions, being restless or irritable, changing eating, sleeping or other habits, thinking of death or suicide, or attempting suicide” (NIMH, 2012, p. 2). “Episodes of bipolar depression are often misdiagnosed as major depression, and in some cases bipolar disorder is not accurately diagnosed for years” (Pinto & Schub, 2014, para. 2).

Bipolar disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an alternating or shift in moods of elevation and depression. It is also known as manic depression. This mental illness is that brings severe high and low moods, it can cause changes in sleep, energy, thinking, and behavior. “Bi” which means two or alternating between two, explains the two common episodic moods that occur in individuals with this disorder; mania and depression. According to the DSM there are multiple forms of bipolar disorder, coming in four major forms; bipolar I, bipolar II, bipolar disorder and Cyclothymia. Bipolar II which is a “major depressive episodes alternate with hypomanic episodes rather than full manic episodes.”(Barlow et al., 2014). Individual with bipolar I are similar, “except the individual experiences a full manic episode.” (Barlow et al., 2014). Lastly Cyclothymia is just a mild form of bipolar disorder. Mania episodes take into account the high elevated moods; where an individual’s is extremely energetic, excited, may partake in usually activities, for example excessive spending, promiscuity or dangerous behavior. On the other hand, there are depressive episodes, which are mark by similar symptoms as the common disorder of depression, such as extreme sadness, lack of motivation, constant fatigue and irritable. More prevalent in women, although it can occur in children and older adults, this disorder is seen to suddenly develop in ages ranging from 18 to 24. Although similar men and

Bipolar disorder, or manic depressive disorder, is a disorder characterized by extreme mood changes. People with this disorder undergo unusual shifts in his or her mood, activity levels, energy and the ability to carry out daily activities (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.). A person can go from being very outgoing and energetic to feeling irritated and worthless over a period of a few days, months, or even years. People with bipolar disorder experience “mood episodes”, represented by a drastic change in a person’s unusual mood or behavior (National Institute of Mental Health, n.d.). A manic episode he or she may experience is overexcited and overly joyful; however, someone in a

Being able to understand an immediate and extended problem of an analysis is a very difficult procedure for a person to overcome. At first this may become very hard and confusing to understand the request for a treatment which is needed to take place. When a person realises the risks of having an endless impact, hopes and determinations of a person becomes crushed. Furthermore, adjusting to a chronic illness in a positive way can be a normative development as taking care of a person’s emotional wellbeing, having the right attitude towards this and being able to develop a high self-esteem, during this also following rules of medical regimes. Being able to handle diagnoses, this will need putting strategies which include analysis evaluating what

Most chronic illnesses do not fix themselves and are generally not cured completely. Some can be immediately life threatening, such as heart disease and stroke. Others linger over time and need intensive management, such as diabetes. Most chronic illnesses are continuous throughout a person’s life, but are not always the cause of death, such as arthritis.

As healthcare providers, we often include health promotion and risk reduction in our patient education. However, there are different approaches when teaching a patient with chronic illness compared to a healthy person. The focus for a healthy person is encouraging them to keep on adopting healthy behavioral lifestyle, such as eating healthy nutritional diet, exercise, avoid smoking, and alcohol use, and to utilize medical screenings and immunization for disease prevention (Mauk, 2014). On the other hand, the focus for a person with chronic illness is different because we have to consider the person’s illness when providing education. For example, teaching a patient with type 2 diabetes about healthy nutritional diet, we have to include not