PSYCHOLOGY DISORDER ANALYSIS OF BIPOLAR DISORDER

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Psychology Disorder Analysis of Bipolar Disorder and Bipolar 1 and 2 Comparison and
Bipolar Treatment
Ben Hall
Front Rage Community College/Polaris
Yaromy, PSY102

PSYCHOLOGY DISORDER ANALYSIS OF BIPOLAR DISORDER

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Abstract
The psychological disorder that I chose is Bipolar Disorder, also known as Manic Depression.
This disorder is classified by frequent swings in mood, ranging from ecstatic happiness to bad
depression. About 4% of people suffer from bipolar disorder. According to the DSM, in order to
be officially diagnosed, you must have one episode of mania, or a time when your behavior
suffers severe and rapid changes in a little amount of time. Bipolar in particular is a disorder that
has always interested me, and I have always wanted to learn more about it.

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I chose to do my research on Bipolar disorder, which was previously officially known as
Manic Depression. This disorder is categorized by having at least one episode of mania, a
rapid mood change usually between ecstatic happiness and severe depression. My group and I
used two articles to conduct our research on the disorder, which were titled Bipolar 1 and 2
Comparison and Bipolar Treatment.
As the title suggests, the first article analyzed and discussed the differences between
Bipolar 1 and 2. The experiment in the article was conducted to better establish the differences in
cognitive activity between bipolar types 1 and 2, and was done as part of the St. Goran bipolar
project. The test subjects selected were 67 patients with type one bipolar disorder, 43 with type
2, and 86 random, healthy people to serve as control variables. However, two of the controls
were excluded due to a found history of previous psychological issues. One was diagnosed
previously as an alcoholic, and the other was found to have dementia. All were also in a stable
state of mind. Various neuropsychological tests were used on the subjects, and administering
them required two sessions. These tests required the use of various skills, including inhibiting
perseverative and impulsive responses, visual attention and memorization, memory, and
attention processes. The experiment ultimately made three findings, the first of which is that
stable patients diagnosed with bipolar (both types 1 and 2) have impairment in cognitive skills
when compared to the non-inflicted control patients. Secondly, there were actually no major
differences in cognitive abilities between types 1 and 2. And finally, treatment with the
antipsychotic drugs proved to further impair the abilities of the patients. (Palsson, 2013)
Up next, I researched an article related to the methods used for medical treatment of
bipolar and how the medicine met up with the guidelines for treatment. This test began with a
survey administered to 403 patients to determine if they had the disorder. Of the people
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interviewed, 113 of them were diagnosed with it. 32 patients were diagnosed with BD1, and 82
of them had BD2. Then, any month preceding the interview, the doctors then used the Structured
Interview for DSM-IV to establish any given mood that the patient was in. After the surveys took
place, many different psychotropic drugs were prescribed when needed, including lithium,
anticonvulsants, atypical antipsychotics, and antidepressants. In the end, all patients with BD1
took the medication, and 90% of the patients with BD2 took it. One third of the prescriptions
were for lithium, and the majority of the subjects that took it had BD1. Other than this,
prescription distribution between the two types was fairly even. 40% that didnt take lithium got
anticonvulsants and at least 60% were given antidepressants. Patients who were going through an
episode of depression or hypomania usually received prescriptions for antidepressants rather than
the other drugs. However, the use of antidepressants for bipolar treatment is still controversial,
due to occurrences of the drugs destabilizing the mood, sometimes resulting in mania episodes.
In conclusion, when compared to other treatment options such as lithium, antidepressants are not
a treatment option that is any better, and may in fact be worse. (Paterniti, 2013)
I think that these articles were very good to read. They taught me a lot, not only about the
disorders, but the processes in which psychologists learn more about the disorders. A lot of
research and experiments go into it, more than I had initially assumed. Bipolar has been a
thoroughly fascinating subject to explore. I never knew how much of a huge impact it had on
basic cognitive ability before now. Overall, these articles have been very informative about
bipolar disorder and Im glad that I got to conduct research on it.

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References

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental
disorders: (4
th
ed., text rev.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Doi:10.1176/appi.books.9708090423349
Palsson, E. (2013.) Neurocognitive function in bipolar disorder: a comparison between bipolar
and II disorder and matched controls. BMC Psychiatry.
Paterniti, S. (2013). Pharmacotherapy for bipolar disorder and concordance with treatment
guidelines: survey of a general population sample referred to a tertiary care service. BMC
Psychiatry.