Living Well with Bipolar Disorder

Source: Alex Hu/Pixabay

This new blog column aims to provide a “deep dive” into the science-backed, therapeutic skills that can help people with bipolar disorder lead healthy and enriched lives.

Mood-stabilizing medication is the cornerstone of bipolar disorder treatment, yet several years of scientific research on bipolar disorder have also told us that there is an important role for certain psychological therapies in the treatment of this condition. Specifically, skills-based psychological interventions that teach people tangible tools for managing their bipolar disorder and reaching their life goals have scientific support for improving treatment outcomes in bipolar disorder when combined with medication treatment. Such skills-based psychological interventions may include:

Psychoeducation: Effectively managing a medical condition requires education about the ins and outs of that condition, and bipolar disorder is no different. The goal of psychoeducation for bipolar disorder is to provide people with education on their bipolar disorder and how they can best manage it. Psychoeducation provides information on the importance of taking medications as prescribed, recognizing warning signs and triggers for mood episodes (depression or (hypo)mania), and problem-solving strategies for intervening on these triggers.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy, CBT: Recognizing the relationship among thoughts, feelings, and behaviors is the foundation of CBT for bipolar disorder. The goal of CBT for bipolar disorder is to help people recognize how shifts in thinking patterns and mood during mood episodes (such as episodes of depression and (hypo)mania) can have a direct impact on behaviors and, in turn, negatively impact one’s health. CBT for bipolar disorder provides tools for recognizing the relationship between specific thought patterns and mood states, changing problematic thought patterns, and learning behavioral skills that can help with mood stability.

In each blog post, I will pull from these and other skills-based psychological interventions to present how different therapeutic skills could be applied to help address common treatment topics in the management of bipolar disorder. This blog column is intended as an educational resource where people with bipolar disorder, their loved ones, and their clinicians can learn about the types of skills-based interventions that may be applied to treat bipolar disorder. Information on the “gold standard” (no pun intended) skills-based psychological interventions that can help people with bipolar disorder should be readily accessible to all. I hope that the information readers learn here can help them find effective treatments for managing bipolar disorder.

_{This blog contains the opinions and ideas of the author. It is solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be regarded as a substitute for professional treatment. The author shall not be liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising from any information or suggestions in this blog.}