Bipolar Disease essays

Bipolar Disease essays Mood disorders such as bipolar disorder or also known as manic-depression have been closely studied and researched for many years. Due to the inability to find one or any specific gene that contributes to this disorder it has been a long and difficult journey into the understanding of manic-depressive illness. With the contributions of many scientist and researchers slowly the understanding and treatment of bipolar disorder is becoming more clear. The use of lithium and other forms of treatment such as the integration of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy have facilitated substantial results in the lives of patients and families living with this disorder. Without the continual research into such mood disorders such as manic-depressive illness assumptions may become fact, which will in turn misconstrue the meaning behind this disorder. And the Different Aspects of Treatment A growing body of research has indicated that as many as three million people in the United States are estimated to suffer from Bipolar Disorder or also known as Manic-Depression (Bower,2000). This condition is marked by periods of severe depression interspersed with episodes of uncontrollable elation, restlessness, racing thoughts and delusions of grandeur. As expected with these symptoms, this diseases not only affects the person who has the disease, but those around them. Many treatments have been used to try and calm the effects of this disorder, however only one treatment seems to be working the best and this treatment is know as Lithium chloride (Bower, 1987). It sounds almost simplistic. Mental disorders are complex and relatively common in the population. It would be too much to ask that their genetics be straight forward, that they are caused by single mutant genes. Yet there is a precedent. Huntingtons disease is caused by a single gene and whoever inherits the gene sooner or later develops the disease. In about half of all...