Medications In The Treatment Of Bipolar Disorder example essay topic

This article is based on bipolar disorder in everyday people. Bipolar disorder is a mental illness is identified by intense and random mood swings. Most everyone effected by this illness go into relapse. This paper analyzes the research by Weisman et. al. (2002).

They conducted a study on bipolar individuals, which consists of a three-element treatment. The segments include Psycho education, Communication Training, and Problem Solving. Weisman et. al. (2002) wanted to discover whether their treatment was effective against the disorder and, to determine if their treatment would the likelihood of relapse. Weisman et. al.

(2002) hypothesized that therapists rated as less competent or adherent to the treatment protocol will have more patients relapsing within one year of entering the treatment then more competent and / or adherent therapists. They also hypothesized, that when patients did relapse, therapists greater in competence and adherence would have patients who stayed well longer had less inpatient hospitalizations. The researchers first studied the research of those recently before them, and create an effective way to completely cure bipolar disorder, by getting rid of any relapses the patients might go through. A plan was then created using the findings from their research. The researchers found and recruited participants of another study designed to assess the efficacy of a psy coeducational intervention program used in conjunction with mood-stabilizing medications in the treatment of bipolar disorder. In their study, 13 clinicians trained in FFT, provided the treatment.

Participants who met the criteria included 26 families with a family member with bipolar disorder. Sixty six percent of the families had one relative in the program, and 34% had two or more relatives participating. Their ages ranged from 18-46 (average age is about 27 years old), they had an average education level of 2 years after high school, and 64% of the patients live with their family. Sixty five percent of the participants were Caucasian, 27% were African American, and 8% were Asian American.

The family members who participated included 12 mothers, 13 fathers, 5 spouses, one cousin, one grandmother, and one aunt. No names are mentioned in the article as who participated, or as to what sex, individual ages, marital status, or socio-economic status the respondents were. I do believe this took place in the continental US. From what is given in the article, I do believe that the participants are representative of the population in general.

Weisman et. al. (2002) found an uncommon result. There was no evidence of any significant connections between therapist competence / adherence and patient outcome. Clinical trial required strict training before operating FFT, therefore creating this mysterious finding.

The therapists further found that good problem-solving ability is an asset in any type of treatment. According to the authors discussion, they found how it is possible that good problem solving teams are better at diagnosis and prescribing treatment for bipolar disorder as well as other disorders and psychological illnesses. The researchers discovered that greater cooperation by therapists might be associated with prolonging the time before the patients' experience a relapse. The authors concluded that the combination of this treatment with medications may seem beneficial to delay the relapses some feel, but the mechanisms that base the treatment may have little to nothing to do with the specific contents of FFT. They also concluded it is not too important for a therapist to have competence and adherence for the results of the treatment.

I could not, in the article, find any limitations to the study. It was everyday people with a variety of races, ages, and personal health. The importance of the study was the fact that most everyone with bipolar disorder don't have enough treatment, and when it goes into remission, it usually comes back- sometimes multiple times. It was detailed to be a breakthrough treatment. I think that this is very new and different from the treatments of the past, and being a person effected and formerly treated for this disorder, I would try to get a treatment like this.

It seems to be a good way to cure bipolar disorder, as well as eliminate and repress remissions. I do believe this can really be efficient and sturdy to completely cure this disorder. The doctors before these should and probably will learn from them, as these therapists had studied and articulated previous works. It would help along the wave of discovery and studies to create bigger and better ideas that could revolutionize the science. It is practical in the way that they used "normal" persons with customary lives. They just have personal problems that can be somewhat easily resolved using a variety of procedures.

Again, I didn't find any implications of any kind of limitations to the study. To complete the analysis, I conclude that there are many people working to help people who need it. Hopefully these therapists are competent, but this is only one of many studies. Who is to say how accurate the studies and details are and should be.

Bibliography

Weisman, A., Thompson, M.C., Okazaki, S., Gregory, J., Golds tien, M.J., Rea, M., Miklowitz, D.J. (2002).
Clinicians' fidelity to a manual-based family treatment as a predictor of the one-year course of bipolar disorder: Family Process, 41,123-131. Retrieved September 4, 2002 from Academic Search Premier database.