NEWS
MONDAY, MAY 8, 2006
4A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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Hanke said she planned to stay an extra year at the University to be involved with a research project with Holmes, who will focus on the diagnosing criteria, specifically the extent to which relatively few symptoms might disrupt a lifestyle, as opposed to the amount of symptoms present.
David Neffsinger/KANSAN
Not only is bipolar difficult to diagnose based on symptoms, but it also is often difficult to identify where symptoms are coming from, Keeler said. Patients might have other disorders, such as substance abuse, combined with bipolar. She said it was hard to determine if one caused the other or if yet a third variable was involved.
Physicians are often at fault and misdiagnose the disorder because they do not ask the patient the right questions, Holmes said.
Hanke said more were diagnosed as having bipolar than should be. Holmes said that he, too, worried that physicians were over-diagnosing, but it might be that the prevalence of the disorder was just surfacing.
Background
Bipolar disorder affects a little more than 1 percent of the U.S. adult population — about 2 million Americans. National Mental Health Association statistics show that 80 to 90 percent of people with the disorder have a relative with some form of depression.
Those suffering from bipolar disorder tend to have a genetic predisposition or a chemical imbalance, and stress and biological trauma can affect the tendency to develop the disorder as well, Holmes said.
Leslie Niswonger, Leoti graduate student, shops at TJ Maxx, 3106 Iowa SL, with her son, Dylon. Niswonger's son and her husband of 11 years cope with bipolar disorder.
MPOLAR CHARACTERISTICS
Manic Symptoms
-- euphoria mood
-- high self esteem
-- increased energy
-- irritability
-- rapid thoughts and talk-
ing
-- distractibility and dif-
ficiency concentrating
-- little sleep needed
-- hallucinations and delu-
sions
-- spending sprees
-- increased sex drive
-- substance abuse
-- denial
-- impulsivity
-- aggression
Depressive Symptoms
Depressive Symptoms
- apathy
- irritability
- weight loss or weight gain
- fatigue
- feelings of worthlessness and guilt
- decreased sex drive
- insomnia and hypersomnia
- suicidal thoughts
- hallucinations and delusions
- difficulty concentrating
Sources: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fourth Ed
The chemical imbalance is difficult to treat because of unstable neurotransmitters in the brain, he said. At times of mania, levels of neurotransmitter levels are high, whereas they are low during periods of depression.
Prenatal stressors, such as
the mother's diet, illnesses and substance abuse, in a fetus have shown to be correlated with the disorder, as well as birth complications, he said.
Hanke stress factors, along with a genetic connection to the disorder, triggered her onset of depression in middle school. She moved from Missouri to Kansas in 6th grade, and her parents got divorced shortly after that. When she was 16, the birth of her sister caused an already growing depression to worsen.
Many famous people have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and others are thought to have been affected by it. The relation between individuals with creative minds and the disorder is bizarre.
Holmes said that inheritance of bipolar disorder was the highest among all psychiatric disorders, with 80 percent of those diagnosed having some family history.
Treatment
Psychiatrists prescribe a variety of medications to treat the illness individually, including mood stabilizers, anti-convulsant drugs, antidepressants, anti-psychotic drugs and sedatives. Other traditional therapies can be used in combination with medication.
Sylvia Plath, poet and author
Kurt Kobain, singer and songwriter
McKnelly said the most effective treatment option, without question, was the stabilizer lithium because it reduced the suicide rate more then fivefold. He was one of the first
Jimmy Hendrix, singer and songwriter
According to the NMHA, lithium is effective for treating mania in 60 percent of individuals with bipolar disorder.
in the region to use the drug when it became available after its surprising effects in calming pigs in France in a 1940s study.
Like mood stabilizers, anticonvulsant drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration reduce mania, but are not used as much as mood stabilizers. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, they
are used on patients with more difficult-to-treat episodes and are used in combination with lithium for maximum effect
Antidepressants are used for those with depression, but physicians are reluctant to use them for individuals with bipolar disorder because they don't want to trigger a manic episode.
Neuroleptic drugs, also known as anti-psychotics, can be used to help a patient who has hallucinations and delusions. John Niswonger said his wife took the anti-psychotic Seroquel and that it had done miracles by ending her night hallucinations and allowing her to think more clearly.
"I had forgotten what it was like to get a full night's sleep," he said.
Individuals taking any of these medications often have to deal with side effects.
Hanke, who is prescribed lithium, said her most noticeable change, besides controlling her mania, was weight gain. The lithium also causes her to have hand tremors.
Holmes said there were other approaches to treatment than medication. One proven to be effective was psychoeducation and cognitive behavior therapy. With these approaches, a patient and his or her family learns about the disorder and specific symptoms to his or her case. This allows an individual to receive social support and adjust everyday activities to cope.
Electroconvulsive therapy, most commonly known as electric shock therapy, is a short-term treatment option that Hanke is thinking about trying. She rates the way she feels everyday a five on a scale of ten.
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