Assignment: Assessing and Treating Patients With Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar is a mental health disorder characterized by extreme mood changes that alter the behavior and normal function of a patient. The mood fluctuation is on extreme ends and may take days to weeks before change, accompanied by difficulties in performing daily tasks and social interactions. The mood changes are mania or hypomania; mania is a happy or irritable mood, and hypomania is a sad mood or depression (Ashok, et al, 2017). These symptoms usually occur alternatively after weeks associated with a period of the normal state. There are types of bipolar which include bipolar 1, bipolar 2, and cyclothymic bipolar. Bipolar 1 has alternating episodes of mania, hypomania, and neutral mood. Bipolar two is associated with a major depressive mood disorder and hypomania state. Cyclothymic has frequent mood swings.
Select a family to complete a family health assessment. (The family cannot be your own.)
Before interviewing the family, develop three open-ended, family-focused questions for each of the following health patterns:
The signs and symptoms of the manic episode are diminished need for sleep, increased and faster speech, increased activity, increased risky behavior, distractibility, and uncontrollable racing thoughts. Hypomania presents with intense sadness or despair, loss of interest, fatigue, difficulties in concentration, frequent thoughts, and suicidal ideation. Common causes of bipolar are genetic predisposition, family history of bipolar, stressful environment, and substance abuse. The patient in the case study is a 26years old female with bipolar. According to the American psychiatric association, she meets the DSM-5 criteria through her symptoms of the diminished need to sleep, excessive talking, increased distractibility, she is in a happy mood, rapid or pressured speech, and increased energy. She scores 22 on the young scale mania. The interventions for bipolar are the use of antipsychotics and psychotherapy. Antipsychotics relieve the symptoms of the patient while psychotherapy enables the patient to change their thinking and behavior to improve cognitive functions and quality of life. The essay describes the three decisions made in treating the patient including the impact of ethical principles.
Decision One
Which decision did you select?
Begin Seroquel XR 300mg orally at HS
Why did you select this decision?
Seroquel is a second-generation antipsychotic with a high affinity for dopamine and serotonin receptors. Its mechanism of action is by antagonizing these receptors and binding them to the norepinephrine transporter (Hamed, et al, 2017). This helps in improving memory, mood, aggression, and the muscle movement that plays a vital role in the brain for pleasure. Seroquel is the best drug for the patient because it is FDA approved for acute manic episodes and bipolar. Moreover, the American psychiatric association proves it is efficient in treating bipolar in its studies.
Why did you not select the other two options provided in the exercise?
Risperdal is a second-generation antipsychotic for treating schizophrenia and maintenance treatment in bipolar. Its mechanism of action is by decreasing the serotonin and dopamine activity in the brain thus reducing the mood symptoms, agitation, and symptoms of schizophrenia. it has 94% bioavailability and is protein-bound with an active metabolite (Schoretsanitis, et al, 2017). It has a plasma half-life of three to twenty hours. However, I did not select this drug for the patient because it has undesirable effects like drooling, nausea, weight gain, nausea, fatigue, and tiredness. Lithium is a commonly prescribed drug for prophylaxis and treatment of manic episodes. Its mechanism of action is by modulating the neurotransmitters and inhibiting the excitatory neurotransmitters like dopamine and glutamate. It has neuro-proliferative and neuroprotective effects on the brain that helps in regulating mood. It is FDA approved
Order this paper