Rapid Cycling Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is not an easy diagnosis to live with. And when rapid cycling of the moods is added to it, it can become quite daunting to get it under control. But there is help available in the form of therapy and medication, and many people say it has transformed their lives to where they are able to function normally.

Instructions

1. Understanding Rapid Cycling Bipolar Disorder

   1--When a person has four or more alternating episodes of mania and depression within a 12-month period, this is considered bipolar disorder with rapid cycling.
   
   
2. 2--Mania symptoms to watch for:
   * Mood changes, either happy or irritable and angry.
   * A feeling of extreme energy.
   * Grandiosity.
   * Impulse activities like overspending, risky sex, alcohol abuse.
   * Changes in sleep.
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   3--Signs of depression
   * Decrease in activity and energy.
   * Great sadness.
   * Restlessness/irritability.
   * Increased worries and nervousness.
   * Feeling guilty and hopeless
   * Talk about suicide.
   * A change in eating.
   * Problems with sleep.
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7. 4--Living with bipolar rapid cycling is not easy. And while there is no cure for it, there are treatments to make it easier to live with. Therapy and discussing your feelings are important lines of defense. This includes cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, family therapy and psycho-education. When you combine therapy with medication, that usually has a big impact. Be aware that most bipolar sufferers (and especially rapid cyclers) will need to take what's called a "cocktail" of medicines to treat all the symptoms.
9. 

   There are several medicines used to treat rapid cycling bipolar disorder that have been proven to be helpful.
   For mania symptoms:
   Lithium,divalproex sodium, carbamazepine, Olanzapine, Risperidone, quetiapine, ziprasidone HCl, Aripiprazole, (haloperidol(an anti-psychotic)
   For depression:Fluoxetine
   , quetiapine, Lamotrigine, olanzapine/fluoxetine
10. 6--The downside is that there are side effects to all of these medications. Most do offer sedation, but they also usually bring on weight gain and the risk of diabetes. Weight gain is considered a serious clinical concern not only because it can lead to adult onset diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, but because being overweight is now the leading reason for patients to stop taking their pills.
11. By Joan Firsteberg  

Dr Harville Hendrix , Ph.D.& Imago Relationship Therapy

Imago Relationship Therapy is an integrated theory and process for working with couples, parents, and children, business colleagues, and others who seek to enhance the relationships they share. Based on the groundbreaking work of Harville Hendrix, Ph.D., author of Getting the Love You Want, Keeping the Love You Find,

 and Giving the Love That Heals.

Imago therapy is a wonderfully effective and safe approach to helping relationship partners grow into understanding each other more fully and relating more honestly as they evolve into greater wholeness as individuals within the relational context they share. Imago is also relevant for single individuals as we are all in many relational contexts. Imago relationship therapy is particularly helpful to single individuals when experienced in a group therapy process.

The basic principles of Imago Relationship Therapy 

are as follows:

• We were born whole and complete.
• We became wounded during the early nurturing and socialization stages of development by our primary caretakers.
• We have a composite image of all the positive and negative traits of our primary caretakers deep in our unconscious mind. This is called the Imago. It is like the unconscious blueprint of the one we need to be our partner in a committed, intimate relationship.
• We look for someone who is an "Imago match," that is, someone who matches up with the composite image of our primary caretakers. This is important because we marry or commit for the purpose of healing and finishing the unfinished business of childhood. Our parents are the ones who wounded us, but a primary love partner who matches their traits is their stand-in.
• Romantic love is the door to a committed relationship and/or marriage and is nature's way of connecting us with the perfect partner for our eventual healing.
• We move into a power struggle as soon as we make a commitment to this person. The power struggle is necessary, for imbedded in a couple's frustrations lies the information for healing and growth.
• The first two stages of a committed relationship, "romantic love" and the "power struggle," are engaged in at an unconscious level. Our unconscious mind chose our partner for the purpose of healing childhood wounds.
• Inevitably, our love partner is incompatible with us and least able to meet our needs and most able to wound us all over again.
• The goal of Imago Relationship Therapy is to align our conscious mind, which usually wants happiness and good feelings, with the agenda of the unconscious mind, which wants healing and growth. Thus, the goal of therapy is to assist clients to develop conscious, intimate, committed relationships.
• This transition cannot take place through insight alone. Specific skills and processes are necessary that need to be practiced daily to shift us from having an unconscious relationship to a conscious relationship.
• It takes commitment, courage, consciousness, patience, and love to create a safe, loving, and passionate relationship.