In treating bipolar disease, the best way of treating this illness is using prescribed medicines and counseling combined.
Most psychiatrists are treating mania symptoms with a set of drugs, and a different set of other drugs for depression.
Although medicines are used in most or all cases, continuous psychotherapy is vital in helping victims cope better with their mood conditions.
Treatments For those with the disease symptoms, there is a real need for the use of prescribed medication.
In other words those with severe symptoms need to take their drugs for the rest of their life.
Along with these medicines, "talk" therapy (psychotherapy), is a vital ingredient in the treatment of the disease symptoms.
In this therapy sessions, feelings, thoughts, behaviors and what caused these problems are shared and discussed.
Treating Mania and Depression If you or a member of your family is suffering from mania signs, psychiatrist can prescribe an antipsychotic drug like lithium or benzodiazepine, to hold in check the sleeplessness, unfriendliness, hyperactivity, and excessive sensitivity.
A mood stabilizer may be given with the medicines above, but for bipolar depression, it can include lithium, which is an anticonvulsant and antipsychotic medicine.
This combination of drugs are mainly to change the moods without kindling a manic episode.
Treating the Symptoms For One Disorder the usual treatment is an ongoing therapy together with mood-stabilizer.
These bipolar medications may include lithium, carbamazepine, or valproic acid /divalproex ) and often are given with a combination of an antipsychotic medication.
Patients treated have shown dramatic decrease in bipolar symptoms, with an 8 % reduction in suicide and attempted suicide.
While mania victims are prescribed antipsychotic drugs or/with benzodiazepine drugs, this comes with a mood-stabilizer.
Those with depression, quetiapine, olanzapine, or lamotrigine are combined with mood-stabilizers.
Some doctors while treating the disease give mood-stabilizer which may be switched or given with other mood-stabilizers combined together.
It is not very often that in depression, antidepressant drugs are used, because antidepressant may trigger mania symptoms.
All antidepressant drugs must be combined with one or two mood-stabilizer or antipsychotic drugs to prevent mania symptoms.
Warning for Antidepressants Because antidepressants may trigger manic episodes and other side effects it is not prescribed to treat the disease.
While new antidepressants have been made to adjust the levels of serotonin or norepinephrine in the brain it is the bad reputation that have made a lot of doctors reluctant to prescribe it.
These antidepressant drugs are dangerous for pregnant or breastfeeding mothers.
While the drug lithium may not harm the baby in the womb, certain anticonvulsants may cause birth defects.
Bipolar medications may not be the only option for treating the illness, the best treatment forms are both by medicines and psychosocial treatment.