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The Duality of Manic Depressive Disorder Treatments
Manic depressive disorder is more a category of mental disorders rather than a single illness. It's also known as manic depression, bipolar disorder or bipolar affective disorder, and it's often characterized by excessive mood swings, ranging between a highly elevated mood, referred to as mania, and a severely depressed mood. Finding the best treatment options can often be very challenging, since variations of the disorder can manifest in different ways (rapid cycling between moods, for example, versus a longer, slower cycle), and will respond to different things. If a person can find a therapist who is especially knowledgeable about the illness, then this is the first step toward getting a handle on it. Treating the disorder is frequently a matter of teamwork.
Often people who live with manic depressive disorder function well in the periods between manic and depressive episodes. This means they can take an active role, along with their doctors, in devising and monitoring their own recovery depression treatments. They particularly need to guard against the temptation to go off their medications, thinking they no longer need them, if the symptoms seem to disappear. So their therapy will often not be restricted just to the drugs, but may include psychotherapy to help them recognize any of their own behaviors that might contribute to the worsening of their illness.
Out of the wide array of available medicines prescribed for manic depressives, lithium is most commonly used since many years. Though it has a proven track record for stabilizing mood swings and reducing cases of suicide, its side effects like constipation, water retention and high blood pressure often pose a problem. New treatments have to be tried out to find whether other medicines might work better with lesser unwanted after effects. It is surprising that the drug which appears to be the most effective against depression is tamoxifen, a breast cancer medicine. Other current treatments also include mood stabilizers and antipsychotic drugs.
It's encouraging that new drugs are always being developed to add to the arsenal of tools that can deal with this illness. And constant research is also being done, greatly increasing the understanding of manic depressive disorder. While researchers and doctors work on that side of the equation, people with the illness can also contribute, by collecting all the depression info they can, working with a therapist, and learning to adjust their own behavior. With this sort of teamwork, a successful treatment is much more likely to result.
Further information concerning manic depressive disorder
Depression Treatment - Choosing the Best Treatment Option!
Symptoms and Treatments for Major Depressive Disorder