Manic depressive disorder is more a category of mental disorders rather than a single illness. It’s also known as manic depression, bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, and it’s often characterized by excessive mood swings, ranging between a highly elevated mood, referred to as mania, and a severely depressed mood. Finding the best treatment options can often be very challenging, since variations of the disorder can manifest in different ways (rapid cycling between moods, for example, versus a longer, slower cycle), and will respond to different things. If a person can find a therapist who is especially knowledgeable about the illness, then this is the first step toward getting a handle on it. Treating the disorder is frequently a matter of teamwork.
Most people with manic depressive disorder don’t exist in a constant “back and forth” cycle of mood swings, as many function quite well in the periods between manic and depressive episodes. What that means is that they are capable of taking an active role in their own manic depression treatment, working with their doctors to devise and monitor them. Among other behavior issues, their greatest temptation may be to go off their medications if the symptoms appear to vanish. Therefore, the treatments may not be restricted just to those drug products, but may also involve psychotherapy so they can learn to recognize behaviors that might undermine their success.
When it comes to the medications prescribed for manic depressives, there are a great many currently available. However, lithium has been used for many years in various forms, and seems to have the best track record for stabilizing the mood swings and even for reducing instances of suicide. One difficulty with this drug, however, is the side effects of high blood pressure, water retention and constipation. So, new treatments are often sought to see if other drugs might work as well, with fewer repercussions. Interestingly, it’s a breast cancer medicine called tamoxifen that has shown one of the best and quickest responses to a manic phase. Other mood stabilizers and antipsychotic drugs are also among the current treatments.
It’s encouraging that new drugs are always being developed to add to the arsenal of tools that can deal with this illness. And constant research is also being done, greatly increasing the understanding of manic depressive disorder. While researchers and doctors work on that side of the equation, people with the illness can also contribute, by collecting all the depression info they can, working with a therapist, and learning to adjust their own behavior. With this sort of teamwork, a successful treatment is much more likely to result.
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Diseases, Conditions and Treatments • September 25th, 2009 •