Bipolar

What to Expect When Getting Help for Bipolar Disorder

Living with bipolar disorder can feel like you don’t have control over your emotions. The highs and lows you experience pose challenges to your everyday life and stability. The classic symptoms of bipolar disorder present like a roller coaster, with moods varying from the lowest depression to the highest forms of mania. 

It’s no secret that brilliant and beautiful individuals throughout history have had bipolar disorder. That’s not to say it’s a glamorous mental health concern; rather, it illustrates that you can live a successful and happy life with proper treatment. 

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Bipolar Treatment Options 

Unfortunately, bipolar disorder isn’t curable, but it is most certainly treatable. Because the symptoms are so disruptive to your everyday life, getting help for bipolar disorder is crucial to living a more fulfilling and productive life. 

Finding the appropriate treatment combination for your individual needs is vital when getting help for bipolar disorder. Proper therapeutic treatment methods tailored to you and the right medications are critical to managing your symptoms. 

The most common bipolar treatment options include:

Psychotherapy 

You don’t have to navigate a bipolar diagnosis alone. There is a lot of information out there, and it’s best to get advice and help for bipolar disorder from a qualified professional. Trained therapists and psychiatrists like our compassionate team of clinicians at BOLD Health can help. 

We offer several psychotherapy options at our beautiful Encinitas facility and even teletherapy throughout California. Below are some therapy options we offer to aid in managing your bipolar symptoms. 

• Individual Therapy:

Regular one-on-one sessions with your assigned clinician can help you navigate your symptoms and learn and develop helpful tools to manage them better. You’ll talk with your therapist about your feelings, thoughts, frustrations, and worries affecting your life, relationships, and career or schoolwork and effectively work through them to learn better coping strategies. 

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It’s important to remember that even when you feel better, bipolar disorder requires lifelong treatment. Skipping treatment sessions can be harmful to your therapeutic journey. Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to go to individual therapy sessions forever. At BOLD Health, your treatment length is tailored to your unique objectives and underlying genetic, structural, and historical underpinnings. 

• Group Therapy

Finding a tribe where you can feel comfortable and free to express yourself is a crucial component of your bipolar disorder treatment plan. Led by your assigned clinical facilitator, you’ll meet with several other individuals experiencing similar challenges with their mental health. Sharing with others and hearing you aren’t alone are critical components to reducing the feelings of isolation that come with a mental health diagnosis.

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• Family-Focused Therapy

Family support can help you to stick to your treatment plan and help your loved ones to understand your diagnosis better. This open communication can also allow your family to recognize and manage warning signs of your symptoms. Studies done at the University of Colorado and UCLA revealed that adding this type of therapy helps individuals with bipolar disorder have less severe mood swings and better functioning over more extended periods. 

Medication Management for Bipolar Disorder

There are several medications on the market that can help your bipolar symptoms dramatically improve. Treatment centers like BOLD Health offer specific medication bipolar treatment options tailored to your diagnosis. After getting to know you and understanding your needs, our clinicians can recommend a medication or combination of medications to help provide you relief. 

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Below are some of the most common medication options used to treat bipolar disorder.

• Antidepressants are typically prescribed if your most common symptom is depression. There are several antidepressants that the BOLD team or another qualified clinical professional can prescribe for your specific needs. 

These include:

• paroxetine (Paxil)
• citalopram (Celexa)
• escitalopram (Lexapro)
• sertraline(Zoloft)
• fluoxetine (Prozac)
• fluvoxamine (Luvox)
• Mood stabilizers work well for bipolar disorder if your mood quickly reverts from a depressed state to a high “manic” state and vice versa. These stabilizers, such as lithium, help to level your mood, ensuring your state of mental health won’t tip the scale too far to one side.

Other mood stabilizers include:

• valproic acid (Depakene)
• divalproex sodium (Depakote)
• carbamazepine (Tegretol, Equetro)
• lamotrigine (Lamictal)

• Atypical antipsychotics are helpful if your symptoms include severe mania. These medications also work well for hallucinations or delusions. Atypical antipsychotics may be combined with antidepressants to treat bipolar disorder.

Some of these medications include:

• olanzapine/fluoxetine combination (Symbyax)
• aripiprazole (Abilify)
• asenapine (Saphris)
• lurasidone (Latuda)
• risperidone (Risperdal)
• quetiapine (Seroquel)
• ziprasidone (Geodon)
• cariprazine (Vraylar)

Whether you partner with our highly-skilled team at BOLD Health in San Diego or choose a healthcare professional in your area, they’ll work with you to decide the best course of treatment for your bipolar symptoms. Mood stabilizers are often the first choice in the treatment plan, but everyone’s diagnosis is different.

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Additional Bipolar Treatment Options

There are further supplemental treatment options when getting help for bipolar disorder. Some may be offered by a healthcare professional like BOLD Health, while others are under your control. 

• Limit alcohol and recreational drug use. Research shows that individuals diagnosed with a mental health disorder are more likely to develop alcohol or drug addictions. Since your chances of having psychiatric comorbidity are much higher, so is the likelihood of risk-taking and other dangerous behavior.

• Focus on healthy habits. Stabilized routines are essential for balanced moods. Balanced circadian rhythms through good sleeping habits, along with proper nutrition, and physical activity, can greatly help reduce your symptoms. If you have trouble sleeping, discuss what you can do to help solve it with your doctor or mental health professional. Keeping track of your moods and activities on a chart can help to keep you on track and watch for triggers.

• Form healthy relationships. Surround yourself with individuals who are supportive of your treatment and well-being. Positive influences can aid in longer time frames between episodes and mood shifts. 

• Educate yourself. Continued education on your diagnosis can help you to manage your symptoms and advocate for yourself. You can begin to identify your own issues and help yourself prevent relapse. Psychoeducation will give you reliable information and help you to make informed decisions about your own treatment. 

Any of the above combined with our outpatient programs in San Diego at BOLD Health can help you better manage your symptoms so you can get on with living a rewarding and enjoyable life.

Try Advanced Bipolar Treatment With Our San Diego IOP

As one of the leading outpatient programs in San Diego, our intensive outpatient program (IOP) is a more rigorous treatment option to help you better manage symptoms and gain control of your life. General clinic visits with a medical provider may not always be enough for you or your loved one when navigating treatment for bipolar disorder. That’s where our San Diego IOP comes in.

At BOLD Health, we take a tailored approach to your treatment, no matter which therapy method is best for you. While therapy and medication management alone can definitely help, our San Diego IOP helps by integrating our 10-week intensive program into your everyday life. This outpatient program in San Diego allows you to get the help for bipolar disorder you need during the day while tending to your responsibilities at home in the evening. 

Contact us today for more information about any of our outpatient programs in San Diego so we can get you feeling more like yourself and in control of your life. 

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