How to Help a Person With Bipolar Disorder: 7 Helpful Tips

Bipolarity is a disorder of which there are many myths; the term is often used wrongly to refer to changes in people's attitudes, but without these meeting the necessary criteria to be considered as symptoms of the disorder bipolar.

In this article we are going to address the topic of how to help a person with bipolar disorder, and we will also clarify doubts regarding the symptoms of this pathology, to clearly determine when we can be in the presence of this mental alteration.

• Related article: "The 6 types of mood disorders"

What is bipolar disorder?

Before moving on to the advice on how to help a person with bipolar disorder, it is necessary to know exactly what this condition is about. What is known as bipolar disorder consists of a mental condition characterized by the alternation between cycles in which the person's state of mind reaches very intense extremes; a series of extreme changes in people's moods, which are maintained for a time in a consistent way.

It can be presumed that a person is presenting behaviors typical of bipolar disorder when the changes between a mood and others arrive after a period of time of approximately several months, that is, they are not sudden changes that occur in a matter of minutes. In addition, the intensity of the moods must be significant and entail discomfort or significant risks to the integrity of the person and / or their environment.

The mood polarities that manifest in bipolar personality disorder are one manic, characterized by intense states of euphoria and agitation in people, and another depressive; characterized by strong states of apathy and general lack of enthusiasm.

In some cases, patients are usually seen in which both polarities coexist; This is what is known as mixed bipolar disorder. This variant of bipolarity is more complex than the classic one and includes a greater risk for those who suffer from it.

In mixed cases of bipolarity, manic and euphoric behaviors are mixed with depressive behaviors, which results in subjects living with treacherous attitudes motivated by depressive thoughts intense. In these scenarios, the risk of self-flagellation and suicide increases.

• You may be interested in: "Types of Bipolar Disorder and their characteristics"

Symptoms

As we have mentioned previously, the symptoms of bipolar disorder go beyond simple mood swings in people.

During manic states physical symptoms may be evident, such as constant agitation, verbiage, hyperactivity, etc. These will always be accompanied by an attitude of abnormal enthusiasm, nervousness or tension.

Regarding the depressive states that occur in bipolar disorder, people they show quite marked discouragement and apathy behaviors, slow behavior under any circumstance, insomnia, and fatigue. In severe cases, the possibility of suicide is contemplated.

Thus, in order to help a person with bipolar disorder, it is first necessary to understand the main symptoms of this psychological alteration and understand that those who suffer from this condition do not choose behave like this. From this premise, let's see a series of tips on what to do.

Tips to help a person with bipolar disorder

In the following list of tips we are going to review some tools to provide support and help to people with bipolar disorder.

1. Help you accept your disorder

The sooner we get the person to accept that they have a pathology, closer we will be that is willing to seek the necessary help. Let us remember that our role is to accompany and support, and that it is necessary to have a mental health professional for the improvement to be significant.

Talking with the person about the benefits of going to therapy is a good way to help them agree to attend the consultation, although we must be careful how we say things; We do not want it to appear that we are making value judgments about the way you behave and make decisions.

2. Understand depressive and manic states

As support figures we must understand the behaviors of the subjects when they are going through a polar crisis of this disorder. We should not judge or treat the subject as a bad person or someone who does not deserve respect for having serious problems; their behavior responds to an organic pathology that is beyond their voluntary control.

This is one of the most important tips when it comes to helping a person with bipolar disorder, since damaging their self-esteem could cause them to stop attending therapy.

3. Learn to recognize indicators

In general, when a subject is about to change from one polarity to another, there are usually certain indicators that anticipate it. It is important that we know how to recognize what they are. In this way, everything possible can be done to prevent progression to a full episode, or delay its onset.

In addition, it is also useful to encourage the person to recognize these warning signs in themselves, so that they can organize themselves better and gain autonomy.

4. Accompany you to therapy

The fact that we are willing and available to accompany the subject to therapy means for him a source of extra motivation. In addition, we will prevent the person from feeling alone, which helps greatly to be constant with the sessions and correctly follow the therapist's instructions.

5. Monitor your medication

Patients with bipolar disorder should be in control together with the psychologist and psychiatrist. Medication is many times essential for the subject to remain stable and prevent manic and depressive episodes from significantly affecting his quality of life.

Therefore, as friends or relatives of the patient, do everything possible to monitor whether you take your medication according to the doctor's instructions, and in case of not doing it, talk to him.

6. Spending quality time with the person

People with bipolar disorder usually do not have the facilities to maintain long and stable personal relationships, taking into account that they change their attitude in very extreme; sometimes they are too eloquent and frantic, and sometimes they don't feel like talking to almost anyone.

It is important that we spend quality time with these people and make the process of relating to them easier, thus preventing them from isolating themselves from others. We can look for activities to do together, in which they interact with other people and can feel that they are capable of leading a normal life.

7. Avoid tense situations in front of the subject

It is recommended that we always try to maintain an attitude of assertiveness and respect with the people who have bipolar disorder, because moments of tension can be triggers for manic behaviors or depressive.

Bibliographic references:

• Angst, J, Sellaro, R. (2000). Historical perspectives and natural history of bipolar disorder. Biological Psychiatry (Review). 48 (6): pp. 445 - 457.
• Cipriani, G., Danti, S., Carlesi, C., Cammisuli, D.M., Di Fiorino, M. (2017). Bipolar Disorder and Cognitive Dysfunction: A Complex Link. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (Review). 205 (10): 743 - 756.
• Goodwin, G.M. (2012). Bipolar disorder. Medicine. 40 (11): pp. 596 - 598.
• Leibenluft, E.; Rich, B.A. (2008). Pediatric Bipolar Disorder. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. 4: pp. 163 - 187.
• Newman, C. F., Leahy, R. L., Beck, A. T. and Reilly-Harrington, N. (2005). Bipolar disorder: An approach from cognitive therapy. Barcelona: Paidós Ibérica Editions.