Manic Depression Tips

Manic depression or bipolar disorder affects more and more people in modern societies. The disorder is characterised by periods of mania followed by others of depression. The length of those periods varies the same as the severity.

Following a diagnosis, most manic depressive sufferers will be treated in the same way pretty much, regardless of their personalities, unique characteristics and experience. At the beginning is the denial as most people do not want to admit that they suffer from such a socially stigmatised condition. Then comes the realisation that there is no treatment that works for everyone and in a sense national health systems will deal with them in a rather experimental way. The patient will be prescribed many different medications, until one is going to work.

However, what the meaning of “treatment” for psychiatrists varies significantly from how bipolar experience it. The doctors’ primary conce
is not to treat the patient but to protect everyone around them; their family and society as a whole. Therefore, sufferers with extreme symptoms of manic episodes will be prescribed with very strong antipsychotics that will turn them into automatons, so they will be harmless for the society. What happens next, is that the sufferer sooner or later will stop taking the medication as being untreated will feeling much better.
In the US, around 6 million people suffer from bipolar disorder while there is over 1m in Britain and Germany. The national health system in the UK treats them all in the same way, which is based on what is cost effective for the state rather than what really works for the sufferers. In other words, there is no qualitative feedback on all those pill-based “treatments” as the sole objective is to stop all those negative symptoms by all means. The patient’s progress and personal development as equal member of the society where the state claims they should live is completely overlooked and is not a major concern.

I was shocked when I found out how the system treats all those people from the day they are first diagnosed. Basically, they have to follow a super-bureaucratic process based on cognitive, social skills and rationalism while at the same time the psychiatrist’s diagnosis talks about delusional ideas, psychotic symptoms, in some case hallucinations and anti social behaviour such as aggression and intolerance. In other words, the whole process has been set up in such a way that most of them won’t be able to follow it, let aside being treated. Or even worse, during the first or second manic or depressive episode the chances of being left completely alone are even higher as failure to attend a scheduled appointment is a good reason for the psychiatrist nurse or doctor to assume that the patient does not want to carry on with his “treatment”. That, combined with the fact that approximately 1 in 5 bipolar people commit suicide (NIMH) shows how much the state values and cares about those people.

Similarly, the super-market approach of the National Health System (NHS) which basically acts as a distributor of pharmaceutical products prescribing pills, without looking at each individual as a unique entity is the main obstacle to those people’s better life. What is even worse about those pills is that they have some very serious side effects such as difficulty in speaking, trembling, shaking and many more. Those who can afford private treatments based on psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, counselling etc stand a chance for a better life and may eventually recover. The rest will never manage to lead an independent life as they will always have to rely on their families and friends (if any) because the way they are being treated create other problems such as lack of confidence and self esteem.

My suggestion to all bipolar people is to trust themselves and the people around them more than the state’s representatives and doctors who do not seem to be able to provide any sort of essential help. Being busy with something will definitely help, especially paid work as the social state again is against bipolar sufferers through a similar bureaucratic labyrinth , which most won’t manage to follow for a long time if ever.