What Are Bipolar Depression Treatments?

Bipolar disorder, also more commonly known as manic depression, is one of the hardest disorders to cope with. Bipolar depression is a mood disorder where someone suffers periodically through both extremely elevated moods. This is known as mania.

And what’s even worse, some people experience both the high but then they also experience a very bad low. Some people are lucky enough that all they have are “normal” and “manic” moods but for someone who ends up hitting highs and then lows, that cycle is known as “rapid cycling” and is incredibly draining. That’s why it’s so important to get bipolar depression treatment. There are subtypes of bipolar depression so bipolar depression treatments may be a little different for each type – the type is determined by looking at the “bipolar spectrum” and determining how severe the disorder is.

What Are The Treatments For Bipolar Depression?

The most common way of treating bipolar depression actually involves using different techniques together. The first bipolar depression treatment you’re likely to encounter will be actual oral medication. These medications are almost always mood stabilizers that try to find the causes of bipolar depression (as in what triggers episodes) and then prevent them from occurring. In particular a drug called Lamotrigine has been found to be a particularly effective bipolar depression treatment because it stops both manic episodes as well as depressive ones. The “gold standard” of mood stabilizers is lithium so it’s also commonly used in bipolar depression treatment. Whatever the drug prescribed is its goal is usually to stop any kind of episode from occurring at all.

If someone needs bipolar depression treatment because they have episodes that actually require antipsychotic drugs, they are given something like chlorpromazine. People who suffer from manic episodes thanks to their bipolar depression are given treatment in institutions because they can become a danger to themselves or others. Doctors are also hesitant to use antidepressants when treating bipolar depression though because there have been conflicting research studies done as to whether they help prevent manic episodes.

The other way that doctors approach bipolar depression treatment is by using psychotherapy to try and alleviate bipolar depression “triggers” – things that set off a manic or depressive episode. These techniques include family-focused therapy, cognitive behavior therapy and other similar techniques. Doctors try to identify what things in a person’s life tend to trigger episodes and prevent those things from occurring if it’s popular.

People who are diagnosed with bipolar depression and get treatment have a very good chance at living a normal life.