Marked by severe pathologic mood swings from hyperactivity and euphoria to sadness and depression, bipolar disorders involve various combinations of symptoms.
❑ Type I bipolar disorder is characterized by alternating episodes of mania and depression.
❑ Type II is characterized by recurrent depressive episodes and occasional manic episodes.
❑ In some patients, bipolar disorder assumes a seasonal pattern, marked by a cyclic relation between the onset of the mood episode and a particular 60-day period of the year.
The American Psychiatric Association estimates that 0.4% to 1.2% of adults experience bipolar disorder. This disorder affects women and men equally, is more common in higher socioeconomic groups, and is associated with high levels of creativity. It can begin in late childhood or early adolescence, but onset usually occurs between ages 20 and 30.
Before the onset of overt symptoms, many patients with bipolar disorder have an energetic and outgoing personality with a history of wide mood swings. A related but less severe form of illness, called cyclothymic disorder, commonly precedes a bipolar disorder. (See Cyclothymic disorder.)
Bipolar disorder recurs in some patients; as they grow older, the episodes recur more frequently and last longer. Although prevalence is similar for men and women, women are more likely to have more depressive and men more manic episodes over a lifetime.
The origins of bipolar disorder are unclear, but hereditary, biological, and psychological factors may play a part.
The incidence of bipolar disorder among relatives of affected patients is higher than in the general population and highest among maternal relatives. The closer the relationship, the greater the susceptibility.
Although certain biochemical changes accompany mood swings, it’s unclear whether these changes cause the mood swings or result from them. With both mania and depression, intracellular sodium concentration increases during illness and returns to normal with recovery.
Patients with mood disorders have a defect in the way the brain handles certain neurotransmitters — chemical messengers that shuttle nerve impulses between neurons. Low levels of the chemicals dopamine and norepinephrine, for example, have been linked to depression, whereas excessively high levels of these chemicals are associated with mania.
Changes in the concentration of acetylcholine and serotonin also may play a role. Although neurobiologists have yet to prove that these chemical shifts cause bipolar disorder, it’s widely assumed that most antidepressants work by modifying these neurotransmitter systems.
New data suggest that changes in the circadian rhythms that control hormone secretion, body temperature, and appetite may contribute to the development of bipolar disorder.
Emotional or physical trauma, such as bereavement, disruption of an important relationship, or a serious accidental injury, may precede the onset of bipolar disorder; however, bipolar disorder often appears without identifiable predisposing factors.
Manic episodes may follow a stressful event, but they’re also associated with antidepressant therapy and childbirth. Major depressive episodes may be precipitated by chronic physical illness, psychoactive drug dependence, psychosocial stressors, and childbirth. Other familial influences — especially the early loss of a parent, parental depression, incest, or abuse — may predispose a person to depressive illness.
Signs and symptoms vary widely, depending on whether the patient is experiencing a manic or a depressive episode.
The manic patient typically appears euphoric, expansive, or irritable with little control over his activities and responses. He may describe hyperactive or excessive behavior, including elaborate plans for numerous social events, efforts to renew old acquaintances by telephoning friends at all hours of the night, buying sprees, or promiscuous sexual activity. He seldom hesitates to start projects for which he has little aptitude.
The patient’s activities may have a bizarre quality, such as dressing in colorful or strange garments, wearing excessive makeup, or giving advice to passing strangers. He often expresses an inflated sense of self-esteem, ranging from uncritical self-confidence to marked grandiosity, which may be delusional. Common features of the manic phase are accelerated speech, frequent changes of topic, and flight of ideas. The patient is easily distracted and responds rapidly to external stimuli, such as background noise or a ringing telephone.
Physical examination of the manic patient may reveal signs of malnutrition and poor personal hygiene. He may report sleeping and eating less than usual.
Hypomania can be recognized during the assessment interview by three classic symptoms: elated but unstable mood, pressured speech, and increased motor activity. The hypomanic patient may appear elated, hyperactive, easily distracted, talkative, irritable, impatient, impulsive, and full of energy but seldom exhibits flight of ideas, delusions, or an absence of discretion and self-control.
The patient who experiences a depressive episode may report a loss of self-esteem, overwhelming inertia, social withdrawal, and feelings of hopelessness, apathy, or self-reproach. He may believe that he’s wicked and deserves to be punished. His growing sadness, guilt, negativity, and fatigue place extraordinary burdens on his family.
During the assessment interview, the depressed patient may speak and respond slowly. He may complain of difficulty concentrating or thinking clearly but usually isn’t obviously disoriented or intellectually impaired.
Physical examination may reveal reduced psychomotor activity, lethargy, low muscle tonus, weight loss, slowed gait, and constipation. The patient also may report sleep disturbances (falling asleep, staying asleep, or awakening in the early morning), sexual dysfunction, headaches, chest pains, and a heaviness in the limbs. Typically, symptoms are worse in the morning and gradually subside as the day goes on.
His concerns about his health may become hypochondriacal: He may worry excessively about having cancer or some other serious illness. In an elderly patient, physical symptoms may be the only clues to depression.
Suicide is an ever-present risk, especially as the depression begins to lift. At that point, a rising energy level may strengthen the patient’s resolve to carry out suicidal plans.
The suicidal patient may also harbor homicidal ideas, for example, thinking of killing his family either in anger or to spare them pain and disgrace.
For characteristic findings in patients with this condition, see Diagnosing bipolar disorders.
Physical examination and laboratory tests, such as endocrine function studies, rule out medical causes of the mood disturbances, including intra-abdominal neoplasm, hypothyroidism, heart failure, cerebral arteriosclerosis, parkinsonism, psychoactive drug abuse, brain tumor, and uremia. Moreover, a review of the medications prescribed for other disorders may point to drug-induced depression or mania.
Specific symptom clusters are treated empirically. Antidepressants and low-dose antipsychotic drugs are helpful for those with cluster A type symptoms (paranoid and schizoid types). Anticonvulsant mood stabilizers and monamine oxidase inhibitors are helpful for those showing marked mood reactivity, behavioral dyscontrol, and rejection hypersensitivity.
Anticonvulsants — such as carbamazepine, valproic acid, and clonazepam — are used either alone or with lithium to treat mood disorders. (See Preventing complications of lithium therapy.) Carbamazepine, a potent antimanic drug, is effective in many lithium-resistant patients.
Antidepressants are used to treat depressive symptoms, but they may trigger a manic episode.
For the manic patient:
❑ Attend to the manic patient’s physical needs. Give small, frequent meals, including finger foods, that can be eaten while pacing.
❑ As the patient’s symptoms subside, encourage him to assume responsibility for his care.
Clinical tip Provide emotional support, maintain a calm environment, and set realistic goals for behavior.
❑ Provide diversionary activities suited to a short attention span; firmly discourage the patient if he tries to overextend himself.
❑ When necessary, reorient the patient to reality, and tactfully divert conversations when they become intimately concerned with other patients or staff members.
❑ Set limits in a calm, clear, and self-confident manner for the manic patient’s demanding, hyperactive, manipulative, and acting-out behaviors. Setting limits tells the patient you’ll provide security and protection by refusing inappropriate and possibly harmful requests.
❑ Listen to requests attentively and with a neutral attitude, but avoid power struggles if a patient tries to put you on the spot for an immediate answer. Explain that you’ll seriously consider the request and will respond later.
❑ Collaborate with other staff members to provide a consistent response to the patient’s manipulative or acting-out behavior.
❑ Watch for early signs of frustration (when the patient’s anger escalates from verbal threats to hitting an object). Tell the patient firmly that threats and hitting are unacceptable and that these behaviors show that he needs help to control his behavior. Then tell him that the staff will help him move to a quiet area and will help him control his behavior so he won’t hurt himself or others. Staff members who have practiced as a team can work effectively to prevent acting-out behavior or to remove and confine a patient.
❑ Alert the staff team promptly when acting-out behavior escalates. It’s safer to have help available before you need it than to try controlling an anxious or frightened patient by yourself.
❑ Once the incident is over and the patient is calm and in control, discuss his feelings with him and offer suggestions on how to prevent a recurrence.
❑ If the patient is taking lithium, tell him and his family to discontinue the drug and notify the physician if signs or symptoms of toxicity — such as diarrhea, abdominal cramps, vomiting, unsteadiness, drowsiness, muscle weakness, polyuria, or tremors — occur.
For the depressed patient, perform the following:
❑ Provide a structured routine, including activities to boost his self-confidence and promote interaction with others (for instance, group therapy), and keep reassuring him that his depression will lift.
❑ Encourage the patient to talk or to write down his feelings if he’s having trouble expressing them. Listen attentively and respectfully, and allow him time to formulate his thoughts if he seems sluggish. Record your observations and conversations.
❑ To prevent possible self-injury or suicide, remove harmful objects (such as glass, belts, rope, and bobby pins) from the patient’s environment, observe him closely, and strictly supervise his medications. Institute suicide precautions as dictated by facility policy.
❑ Attend to the patient’s physical needs. If he’s too depressed to take care of himself, help him with personal hygiene measures. Encourage him to eat or, if necessary, feed him. If he’s constipated, add high-fiber foods to his diet; offer small, frequent meals; and encourage physical activity. To help him sleep, give him back rubs or warm milk at bedtime.
❑ If the patient is taking an antidepressant, watch for signs of mania.
Read excerpts from these other book chapters related to Mania:
Copyright Details: Handbook of Diseases, Copyright © 2008 Williams & Wilkins.
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More About This Book:
Title: Handbook of Diseases Authors: Springhouse Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Copyright: 2003 ISBN: 1-58255-266-5 
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