Finding One's Self In Bipolar Disorder

      Bipolar disorder strikes many people and leaves them craving for the life they once had. In the New York Times article, “The Problem with How We Treat Bipolar Disorder,” Linda Logan is an example of a woman whose life had hit roadblocks, where she could not recognize who she was. She explains her bipolar disorder as a gradual process that started sucking away all her happiness. She had three young kids but was unable to feel any happiness from the time she spent together with them. She was soon hospitalized for her suicidal thoughts and was treated with medications. She questions whether these methods were beneficial and why the “self” is not of more importance in psychic evaluations. Through her medical evaluations, no one had brought up the importance of finding one’s identity, even though Logan claimed that she saw many parts of her identity destroyed. This is slowly changing as psychiatrists are dealing with issues of finding one’s self and reviving the identity that has been scarred from mental disorders like bipolar disorder. Logan mentioned how her experience with bipolar disorder has led her to open a support group to talk about the self, either the self being destroyed or being revived, with other members suffering from similar disorder.
           

     In the study done by Sara Weisenbach and her team attempted to show worsening in brain function such as: executive function, emotional stability, psychomotor skills due to aging and bipolar disorder. The study conducted on 586 participants aimed to show how aging and bipolar disorder had a double negative effect on cognitive skills. The study aimed to evaluate the cognitive skills in multiple areas in order to assess whether people with bipolar disorder were getting even worse due to the effects of aging. The study concluded that older people were suffering from a lower quality of life and a decrease in their cognitive skills compared to younger individuals who were diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
           

    Amassing the study by Dr. Weisenbach, we can connect that as Logan was aging, she was feeling worse. She noted that the process of being diagnosed with bipolar disorder was gradual, accumulating as she got older. Combining the study and the experience from Logan, it is important to understand that treatment for mental disorders like bipolar disorder has to be done on an individual level. One medication will not work for everyone, thus, it is integral to find specific treatments that work for the individual. This will involve a combination of medication, and being able to revive one’s self. While it will be a difficult task to find treatments on an individual level, I find that finding one’s self will be an important method of treatment. Each individual will have an activity that will provide for the revitalization of the “self” such as Logan did through spending quality time with her kids, creative writing, and her support group. Further research will need to be conducted in order to specify the detrimental effects of aging on people with bipolar disorders and to develop specific treatments on an individual level.

 

Weisenbach, L. S., Marshall, D., Weldon, L. A., Ryan, K., Vederman, C. A., Kamali, M., Zubieta, J., McInnis, G. M., and Langenecker, A. 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.

Logan, L. (27 April, 2013). The Problem With How We Treat Bipolar Disorder. The New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2015, from <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/magazine/the-problem-with-how-we-treat-bipolar-disorder.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.