A variety of medications are used to treat bipolar disorder. Many people with bipolar disorder are on a cocktail of medicines, which may include between two and five medications. Some people with bipolar disorder add to or replace their western medication with herbal or holistic options. But even with optimal medication treatment, many people with the illness have some residual symptoms. Symptom management is considered one of the only useful non-medication treatments of bipolar disorder. This treatment teaches how to lessen the severity of mood swings by recognizing and managing triggering symptoms or events.

Medication:

There is no cure for Bipolar, however there are medications that can be used to prevent a person from going out of control. Medications, called "mood stabilizers" can sometimes be used to prevent or mitigate manic or depressive episodes. Periods of depression can also be treated with antidepressants (Antidepressants have been known to cause mania in persons with bipolar). In extreme cases where the mania or the depression is severe enough to cause psychosis, antipsychotic drugs may also be used.

Particular drugs may not work in all patients, or work sometimes in others, and it takes considerable time to determine in any particular case whether any particular drug is effective at all since bipolar disorder is usually episodic, and patients may experience remissions and periods of virtually normal functioning whether or not they receive treatment. Evaluation of patients is usually carried out using a "life chart" which graphs moods over a long period of time, ranging from weeks to years. It is also generally necessary to "titrate" the dosage of a drug, seeking to achieve the most effective treatment possible while minimising side-effects. Most mood stabilizers have common side-effects which may range from inconvenient to having a major impact on quality of life; many also have potentially dangerous side-effects which make medical monitoring of patients undergoing drug treatment vitally important. For details of particular drugs, see the section below. Often a customized combination of medications are needed to stabilize moods.

Compliance with medications can be a major problem because some people becoming manic lose insight, or an awareness of having an illness, and discontinue medications; then they often suffer a manic episode and may suddenly find themselves initiating multiple projects often being scattered and ineffective, or may go on a spending spree or take a poorly planned trip landing them in an unfamiliar location without cash. The manic periods, euphoric as they may be, are often disastrous because of the impulsiveness and irrationality that comes with them. Contrary to the patient's wishes, the depression does not respond instantaneously to resumed medication, typically taking 2-6 weeks to respond. Other reasons cited by individuals for discontinuing medication are side effects, expense, and the stigma of having a psychiatric disorder.

While bipolar disorder can be one of the most severe and devastating medical conditions, fortunately many individuals with bipolar disorder can also live full and mostly happy lives with correct management of their condition. Compared to patients with schizophrenia, persons with bipolar disorder are more likely to have periods of normal functioning in the absence of medication. Although schizophrenic patients may have remissions with relatively high levels of functioning, schizophrenic patients tend to suffer some impairment during these intervals, if they are not medicated, in contrast to persons with bipolar disorder who often appear completely normal when they are between mood swings.

Read more:

• Use of "Lithium salts and Anticonvulsant mood stabilizers"
• Atypical "Antipsychotic Drugs"