Psychotherapy and Medication for the Treatment of Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a serious mental disorder that typically requires psychotherapy and medication to overcome. It’s important, whether you’re a person with bipolar disorder or have a loved one diagnosed with bipolar disorder, to understand the necessity and the impact that the right type of treatment can have on managing the disorder and episodes of manic behavior and other symptoms. Living with this disorder can be scary and difficult, but with the right help and medication, it doesn’t have to be.

How psychotherapy is used for treating bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder can make life hard for those with it and those around them regularly. Thankfully, there are a couple of ways that therapy can help reduce the number of outbursts and control the episodes themselves.

Two types of therapy have been known to be particularly useful for those with bipolar disorder:

Talk therapy

Talk therapy is often the first type of therapy used for treating bipolar disorder. It helps by letting the patient discuss the thoughts and feelings that they have, as well as the behaviors that cause problems in their life.

Identifying thought processes and individual feelings makes it easier to figure out what triggers episodes and why those episodes occur. It can also help to discuss the impact that bipolar episodes are having on the person’s life and those around them. This can make it easier for a person with bipolar disorder to accept that they need treatment and support. It’s easy to ignore or deny the problem, but facing it head-on can lead to important breakthroughs.

Cognitive behavioral therapy

The second type of therapy that is often used is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is a type of therapy that works to retrain how we think and feel to avoid stress and triggers that lead to bipolar episodes.

CBT can take time but has been shown to drastically improve how a person with bipolar disorder behaves and how they react to stress that would normally cause them to suffer an episode.

Psychotherapy in conjunction with medication

While therapy manages the triggers for bipolar episodes, it is also important to address the symptoms accompanying bipolar disorder. Mood swings are the primary characteristic of bipolar disorder, and these can range from fits of rage to severe and crippling depression. These symptoms can drastically change how a person lives and substantially harm their ability to do what they need and want to do.