A Discussion Of Treating Bipolar Mood Disorder Using
- 2. Some believe treating mental illnesses using medicines is a good way to treat patients especially those with bipolar mood disorder. Others believe that it is wrong to rely completely on medications. I have reviewed 10 articles that discuss Psychopharmacology in some way for bipolar mood disorder.
- 3. Is the use of medications for treating Psychological Disorders Became a hot topic a little more than 2 decades ago (Kaut, 2011). There are many benefits from treating mental illnesses using medication Much research goes into the Psychpharmacology
- 4. This is one of the most popular medications used to treat Bipolar Disorder. Does have its pros and cons. Like all medications, the right dosage is key. Has been linked to stress. Is sometimes mixed with other medications to best treat patients.
- 5. Combined with lithium and similar medications to use for Bipolar disorder Used to create mood stabilizers.
- 6. Also used to treat bipolar disorder. Is thought to actually induce mood instability. About a third of patients using (Koszewska & Rybakowski, 2009). Antidepressants report mood conversions from one side to the other (Koszewska & Rybakowski, 2009).
- 7. Another form of treatment for those with bipolar disorder Can be used alone or with lithium There are many forms of the medication
- 8. The phenomenon that occurs when one becomes tolerant of ones medications after taking if for an extended period of time(Amsterdam & Shults, 2009).
- 9. One thing researchers look at when creating a new treatment. Does the benefits outweigh the cost of production? If something is expensive, it better do a fantastic job at treating the patient!
- 10. Kaut, K. P. (2011). Psychopharmacology and mental health practice: an important alliance. Journal of Mental Health Counseling 33 (3), 196-222. Koszewska, I., & Rybakowski, J.K. (2009). Antidepressant-induced mood conversions in bipolar disorder: a retrospective study of tricyclic versus non-tricyclic antidepressant drugs. Neuropsychobiology 59 (1), 12-16. Tanious, M., & Malhi, G.S. (2011). Optimal frequency of lithium administration in the treatment of bipolar disorder. CNS Drugs 25 (4), 289-298. Woodward, T.C., Tafesse, E., Quon, P., & Lazarus, A. (2010). Cost effectiveness of adjunctive quetiapine fumarate extended-release tablets with mood stabilizers in the maintenance treatment of bipolar I disorder. PharmacoEconomics 28 (9), 751-764. Johnson, S.A., Wang, S. F., Sun, X., McEwen, B.S., Chattarji, S., & Young, L.T. (2009). Lithium treatment prevents stress-induced dendritic remodeling in the rodent amygdala. Neuroscience 163 (1), 34-39. Amsterdam, J.D., & Shults, J. (2009). Does tachyphylaxis occur after repeated antidepressant exposure in patients with bipolar II major depressive episode? Journal of Affective Disorders 115 (1-2), 234-240. Altamura, A.C., Mundo, E., DellOsso, B., Tacchini, G., Buoli, M., & Calabrese, J.R. (2008). Quetiapine and classical mood stabilizers in the long-term treatment of bipolar disorder: a 4-year follow-up naturalistic study. Journal of Affective Disorders 110 (1-2), 135-141.
- 11. Popovic, D., Reinares, M., Goikolea, J.M., Bonnin, C.M., Gonzalez-Pinto, A., & Vieta, E. (2011). Polarity index of pharmacological agents used for maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder. European Neuropsychopharmacology. Vieta, E., Suppes, T., Eggens, I., Persson, I., Paulsson, B., Brecher, M., and trial 126 study investigators. (2008). Efficacy and safety of quetiapine in combination with lithium or divalproex for maintenance of patients with bipolar I disorder (international trial 126). Journal of Affective Disorders 109 (3), 251-263. Deeks, E.D. (2010). Risperidone long-acting injection: in bipolar I disorder. Drugs 70 (8), 1001-1012.
Editor's Notes
- #4: The APA took the initiative to promote the idea of Psychologists being able to write prescriptions. This is what started the whole controversy over the matter. Patients can find much relief from their symptoms when using some form of medication for their illness. We spend a lot of time researching the medications before we use them. We test items such as how well they relieve the symptoms the patient experiences and how likely they are to experience an episode again.
- #5: Lithium has been proven to be effective for both manic and depressive episodes (Tanious & Malhi, 2011). Has also been helpful in lowering the suicide rate in bipolar patients (Johnson, Wang, Sun, McEwen, Chatterji &Young, 2009). Unfortunately, lithium does have a downside. The delay in effectiveness can be a long one. For manic episodes it can take 6 to 10 days for full effectiveness (Tanious & Malhi, 2011). In a depressive state it can take even longer; with an average between 6 to 8 weeks (Tanious & Malhi, 2011)! A study on rats showed that lithium can help reduce stress in the brain, the amygdala to be exact (Johnson, Wang, Sun, McEwen, Chattarji, & Young, 2009). The lithium helped in the rats that were given stress, but there was no affect on the others (Johnson, Wang, Sun, McEwen, Chattarji, & Young, 2009).
- #6: Quetiapine is often mixed with lithium to treat bipolar patients. One study combined it with lithium and a similar drug known as divalproex to test the drug as a mood stabilizer (Vieta, Suppes, Eggens, Persson, Paulson, Brecher, etc., 2008). The study showed that adding the Quetiapine delayed the times between episodes meaning it was helpful in stabilizing the mood of the patient longer (Vieta, Suppes, Eggens, Persson, Paulson, Brecher, etc., 2008). A 4 year study was done to see which medication was the best as a mood stabilizer. There were 6 treatment groups and each individual was evaluated once a month during the study (Altamura, Mundo, DellOsso, Tacchini, Buoli, & Calabrese, 2008). It was discovered that Quetiapine alone was very effective, but the most effective was the combination of lithium and quetiapine (Altamura, Mundo, DellOsso, Tacchini, Buoli, & Calabrese, 2008).
- #7: There are two types of Antidepressants used in this study; tricyclic and Non-tricyclic (Koszewska & Rybakowski, 2009). More mood conversions were linked to women rather than men (Koszewska & Rybakowski, 2009).
- #8: A study was done using Risperidone in two forms; an oral medication and an long-acting injections (Deeks, 2010). The long-acting injection was proven to be very beneficial as a maintenance treatment for bipolar disorder (Deeks, 2010). Risperidone combined with lithium is also very effective (Deeks, 2010).
- #9: A study was done using lithium and venlafaxine to see which one the phenomenon was more likely on (Amsterdam & Shults, 2009). It showed us that tachyphylaxis was likely to happen in both treatments equally (Amsterdam & Shults, 2009). This shows us that we need to watch out for tachyphylaxis and that most of these medications are not meant to be used for a long period of time (Amsterdam & Shults, 2009). They would need to be altered when signs of tolerance were evident.