Thursday, April 30, 2015

The Relationship between increasing age and bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder is defined as a mental disorder characterized with alternating period of depression and elation. A research study conducted by Sara Weisenbach and colleagues examines the impact of increasing age on symptoms of bipolar disorder. Specifically the team showed a strong correlation between older bipolar diseased patients and poorer performance in cognitive abilities such as processing speed, language, visuomotor skills, working memory, verbal fluency, episodic memory, executive functioning, and psychomotor speed.

In comparison to same-age control groups, researchers found that patients with bipolar disorder, performed with less success on cognitive tasks. Patients older than 65 showed a higher rate of decline in ability for all cognitive abilities with the exception of complex attention. Bipolar disorder symptoms severely limit patients in regard to their cognitive abilities and their quality of life.
In the New York Time article, “Picking up a Memoir of Madness,” the author examines the story line of the novel titled “He Wanted the Moon.” The article talks about the decline of Dr. Perry Baird, the father of the novel’s author, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Dr. Baird was a respectable doctor from Boston who lost his quality of life because of his austere bipolar disorder.
Mimi Baird, the author of “He Wanted the Moon,” is said to have received a memoir from her diseased father many years following his death. The article talks about what the memoir revealed about Dr. Baird’s mental capabilities during his bipolar disease. Dr. Baird’s description revealed that he was a high-spirit child and an intelligent student of medicine. Initially at his young age, he did not experience severe cognitive limitations. However, at age 29 he was diagnosed with psychosis, a disorder where there is a mental disconnection from reality, and his quality of life diminished there forward. 


During his time with bipolar disorder, Dr. Baird had periods of mental stability and periods of violent delusions. His delusions became so destructive that he eventually lost his medical license and was removed from his family home. Following this Dr. Baird was sent to a hospital where he attempted to escape several times and succeed on more than one occasion. Dr. Baird was incapable of understanding why he was in the hospital and consequently thought of irrational reasons. As a result, he thought it was in his best interest to attempt escape.
The memoir left behind by Dr. Baird showed a disparity between an objective writer and an irrational counter writer. There were times of great clarity in this writing, but other times where the writing was heavily influenced with mania. Some of the writing was clear and concise reflecting stable times, and other times the writing was surged and irrational reflecting times of instability. This represents the alternating periods of depression and elation Dr. Baird experienced because of the bipolar diseases.
As the diseased worsen and Dr. Baird age increased, his mental capabilities became more severely limited. He saw irrational hidden message in everyday objects and he became incomprehensible. During the rare times where his mental capabilities returned, Dr. Baird acknowledged the mania he had endured.
Bipolar disorder seems to worsen as age increases, as shown through the research study and the memoir of Dr. Baird. Age-related brain changes are thought to show vulnerability to developing cognitive and functional problems. These are the most evidence areas for which mood disorders are associated. As a result bipolar disorder has more of an impact on those of older ages. Executive function and processing speeds are severely impacted in those with bipolar disorder and their quality of life is greatly diminished as compared to the control groups.

Weisenbach, S., Marshall, D., Weldon, A., Ryan, K., Vederman, A., Kamli, M., . . . Langenecker, S. (2014). The double burden of age and disease on cognition and quality of life in bipolar disorder. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 29, 952-961.

Zuger, A. (2015, February 23). Picking Up a Memoir of Madness. The New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/health/he-wanted-the-moon-is-an-extraordinary-effort-to-chronicle-bipolar-disease.html

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