Bipolar disorder: clinical features and treatment approaches

Bipolar Disorder is a complex mood and brain disorder, characterized by unusual energy levels, shift in moods, and the capacity to carry out routine tasks. People living with this disorder experience numerous symptoms amid episode (Hawke, Velyvis and Parikh, 2013). In addition, anxiety disorders are among the highly prevalent co-morbidities linked with the disorder. Prior studies suggest that 74.9% of individuals with the disorder have at least one anxiety disorder at some point of their life. The disorder is a major health care challenge that results mortality risk, which is the primary cause of global disabilities to young and adults (Rock et al., 2013). Current research in adults and young adult shows that hypomania experience is a common phenomenon in both the young and adults.

Literature Review

Research suggests that there exists a common bipolar phenotype in the late adolescence, which is identifiable through interview or online surveys. Some of the attributes suggesting the probability of the disorder include increased energy, confidence, stability, interest in sex, and insomnia. The absence of an identifiable increase in the symptoms identified in people with the syndrome is consistent in the young population. Most importantly, people who have symptoms such as risk taking, irritation that leads to shouting and careless spending fall under the group who show a potential bipolar disorder. Moreover, mood shifts has a strong connection to most depressive experienced, which suggests the existence of the syndrome (Rock et al., 2013).

A study by Campos et al. (2013) suggests that there is a connection between the bipolar disorder and eating disorders. This is because patients with eating disorders have co-morbidities with mood disorders. In comparison with the larger population, eating disorder patients show symptoms such as suicidal ideation, residual and treatment resistance. The high incidence of bipolar disorder co-morbidity in eating disorder patients was evident in females with the anorexia nervosa disorder. In addition, the occurrence of bipolar II and I was found in patients with bulimia nervosa, including patients with binge eating disorder. Nevertheless, anorexia nervosa patients show symptoms of mania and depression, including a history of suicidal ideation (Campos et al., 2013).

DSM-IV-TR is a diagnostic classification of mood disorders, which defines the major depressive episodes as its core to the diagnoses of both bipolar II and bipolar I disorders. In comparison, the bipolar II disorder is likely to be diagnosed twice as often, which assists investigators when approaching the prevalence of bipolar I. Although this manual is a positive move towards developing a recognition system for the disorder, the under recognition of the disorder is likely to increase. DSM's major depressive disorder is heterogeneous nature and includes 40% of hidden bipolar a factor that contributes to under recognition. Therefore, there will be a need for systematic screening for hypomania in patient's history for the DSM-IV to detect the hidden bipolarity (Angst, 2013).

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