Treatments For Bipolar Disorder - Getting Good Evidence

If you have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, you may want to find out all you can about the medical treatments that are typically offered. When you’re looking for health information, it’s important that you get sound information based on evidence.

Medical practitioners make a big thing out of ‘evidence-based practice’. This simply means that any treatment must have evidence that it works and the risk of taking it is within acceptable limits. In practice this means that treatments are scientifically tested against other, established treatments.

So how do you know if a treatment is evidence-based? Many countries follow the decisions of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Therefore, in nations such as the US and Australia, FDA approval should mean your medicine has been scientifically tested to show that it works for your condition. (Sometimes the FDA has to think twice, but this is the general idea). Read the story »

Stop Anxiety

Anxiety, or generalized anxiety disorder, is characterized by excessive and exaggerated worry about daily life events.  It’s a stress disorder that can lead to deeper emotional problems and chronic stress syndrome.  In order to stop anxiety you need to learn more about what causes it and how it can affect you.

No study has yet revealed the exact cause of generalized anxiety disorder, but a number of factors have been discovered.  Genetics, environmental stressors, and brain chemistry are a few of the factors that aide in the development of anxiety.  However, it has been proven that anxiety can attract depression, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive order. Read the story »

Symptoms Of Bipolar Disorder - A Mixed Bag

When I studied bipolar disorder in medical school, I thought it was very simple. You got high, you got low, you got better, then you started again.

Then I started to have painful psychological symptoms, so I looked up the books, but no disorder seemed to fit my experience very well.

The official version of the symptoms of bipolar disorder are contained in the DSM-IV (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition published by the American Psychiatric Association). This, however, didn’t throw much light on things, because to quote the Manual itself, ‘it is produced for mental health specialists, its use by people without clinical training can lead to inappropriate application of its contents.’ Great. Read the story »

Treatments For Bipolar Disorder - Getting Good Evidence

If you have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, you may want to find out all you can about the medical treatments that are typically offered. When you’re looking for health information, it’s important that you get sound information based on evidence.

Medical practitioners make a big thing out of ‘evidence-based practice’. This simply means that any treatment must have evidence that it works and the risk of taking it is within acceptable limits. In practice this means that treatments are scientifically tested against other, established treatments.

So how do you know if a treatment is evidence-based? Many countries follow the decisions of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA). Therefore, in nations such as the US and Australia, FDA approval should mean your medicine has been scientifically tested to show that it works for your condition. (Sometimes the FDA has to think twice, but this is the general idea). Read the story »

Stop Anxiety

Anxiety, or generalized anxiety disorder, is characterized by excessive and exaggerated worry about daily life events.  It’s a stress disorder that can lead to deeper emotional problems and chronic stress syndrome.  In order to stop anxiety you need to learn more about what causes it and how it can affect you.

No study has yet revealed the exact cause of generalized anxiety disorder, but a number of factors have been discovered.  Genetics, environmental stressors, and brain chemistry are a few of the factors that aide in the development of anxiety.  However, it has been proven that anxiety can attract depression, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive order. Read the story »

Symptoms Of Bipolar Disorder - A Mixed Bag

When I studied bipolar disorder in medical school, I thought it was very simple. You got high, you got low, you got better, then you started again.

Then I started to have painful psychological symptoms, so I looked up the books, but no disorder seemed to fit my experience very well.

The official version of the symptoms of bipolar disorder are contained in the DSM-IV (Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition published by the American Psychiatric Association). This, however, didn’t throw much light on things, because to quote the Manual itself, ‘it is produced for mental health specialists, its use by people without clinical training can lead to inappropriate application of its contents.’ Great. Read the story »

Bipolar Relationships Taking Steps To Make Life More Pleasant

If you or your Significant Other has bipolar disorder, you probably already know that life can be difficult, miserable, and chaotic. You may be interested to know that it does not have to be that way — that both you and your partner can take certain steps which will make your lives much more livable and even pleasant. While the focus of bipolar relationships can be seen in terms of adult-aged partners, these facts also hold true in other types of relationships, such as friends, siblings, and co-workers. Read the story »

Bipolar Disorder Tips for Friends and Family

TIPS FOR FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS

Let’s start out with a story about cabbage. (A conversation between my mom and myself)

Mom: Why don’t you put some cabbage on your salad?

Julie: I want to have cabbage on my salad but it is just too hard to do it. Read the story »

Title: Things To Know About Bipolar Disease

Bipolar Disease or as it is more commonly called Bipolar Disorder is a mood disorder. This means that any causes or symptoms can lead to Bipolar Disease.

In Bipolar disease sufferers will experience bouts of serious depression and high mania. The disordered moods of the sufferer occur in cyclic patterns. Their moods will swing from an extremely high or euphoric mood with some irritation mixed in to being extremely sad and hopeless. Between these two poles of mood swings, the individual will feel completely normal. They will not show any signs that they are suffering from erratic moods. Read the story »