The most fulfilling part of the job that I do, and working with people with Bipolar Affective
Disorder or mental health conditions in general, is when you are sitting at the discharge meeting
after the period of care, and the person is well enough to walk out of the hospital into their
lives, resume their lives well enough to go back to their families, their friends, their work
hopefully, and live the life that they want to live. That's the best feeling ever.
I'm Paul Wallang. I'm a consultant psychiatrist.
The general public now, I think, have quite a good understanding of
of Bipolar Affective Disorder, what used to be called manic depression,
and I think that's because we've got a lot of celebrities who have now divulged
that they have Bipolar Affective Disorder. So Stephen Fry for instance has done a lot of very
positive work around Bipolar Effective Disorder and the effect it's had on him, and how society
can support people with that diagnosis. Mariah Carey as well and lots of other celebrities. So
I think there is still a stigma, however it has massively reduced over the last decade.
Bipolar Affective Disorder tends to affect one in 50 of the population. Bipolar Affective Disorder
can affect everybody, some people are more vulnerable. So if you have a family history
of the disorder then you're at increased risk. If I were to describe what bipolar is in a nutshell
it would be that the person is suffering from severe mood swings. This is not the normal ups
and downs of daily life. This is very severe manic episodes where you have heightened energy, it's
very difficult to think, and you are very elated and then you swing very rapidly and downwards
into a depressive state, withdrawal, not wanting to relate to others, and just feeling very down.
There are four subtypes of Bipolar Disorder. We have Bipolar One Disorder, which is a very severe
swinging of mood from elation to depression. Bipolar Two, where you get a mood swing, however
the manic episodes are less severe we have Rapid Cycling Bipolar, where you get many cycles of mood
swings within a short period of time. And then the fourth is Cyclothymia, where you have mood swings
but they are not as severe as in Bipolar One, Bipolar Two, or the Rapid Cycling Type of bipolar.
With each of the subtypes of bipolar, they can all affect your life;
your relationships, how you function at work, how you relate to others. So it's very important
that people get effective treatment so that they can resume their daily lives,
and their relationships with their loved ones and other people who they care about.
In some people Bipolar Effective Disorder can just be a number of manic episodes, but on the
whole you tend to get a swing between elation and depression. When people are elated they
will feel full of energy, on top of the world, they will often be quite inquisitive about things
around them, they might not sleep for days on end, they might overspend, they might take risks,
unnecessary risks. So there's some of the things that you would get within an elated component of
Bipolar Affective Disorder. When the person swings back down into a depressive episode you will get
symptoms and signs of depression. So you would have very low mood, you would have withdrawal,
you might have isolation, it might be so extreme that the person feels they don't want to live
anymore and that's when feelings of suicide can come about, and obviously that's a very risky or
dangerous position to be in, so certainly support and help needs to be immediate in that situation.
I think the myths of Bipolar Affective Disorder are that there aren't any effective
treatments available and, actually, there are very effective treatments available,
and people certainly should seek help for those treatments. When we're forming a care plan for
Bipolar Affective Disorder, it's very important that the care plan is holistic in its nature and
so it will have medical components, occupational components, psychological and social components.
With regard to medical treatments, mood stabilisers are available and they're very
useful and helpful in addressing the acute episode of illness,
but also preventing future episodes. Psychology can be used when the person, for example,
has a depressive episode. CBT is very effective in that situation. An occupational therapist
can help that person to regain some of those skills that have been lost during the illness.
We would also want to support the individual with their spiritual needs, and that doesn't
necessarily mean an established religion, but it certainly means
that the person feels like they are getting meaning from their life or have meaningful experiences.
I think the way you can help someone with Bipolar Affective Disorder
is to be very supportive when they are unwell,
and also to get a very deep understanding of the condition if you can, so that when that person
does become unwell or you know somebody who has become unwell with that particular health issue,
that you can provide the necessary support to them and that support is effective.
I hope I've gone somewhere today in making you feel more confident in understanding Bipolar
Affective Disorder, being able to speak about this with your friends, family, and colleagues,
but most importantly speaking to those who are suffering from this mental health condition.
A big thanks for watching.