Bipolar disorder, also known as bipolar affective disorder, is a mental disorder originally known since the ancient Greece, but which eventually changed its name. In the past, psychiatric classification placed it as a manic-depressive illness, although it is now considered that swings between depression and schizophrenia because it includes emotional aspects and psychotic episodes (although not always). The disease can occur at any age, so kids and older adults are susceptible, but it is common to manifest around the third decade of life.
According to Ingrid Vargas Huicochea, researcher in the Department of Mental Health at the Faculty of Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), this disorder affects 1.6 percent of Mexicans. Bipolar disorder impacts the patient and his or her environment, and people who suffer from this condition and their loved ones (family and/or friends) trend to have different perspectives about the condition.
During the conference Bipolarity perception, view of the patient and family, held at the Manuel Sanchez Rosado Auditorium at the National School of Social Work (ENTS), the specialist unveiled the results of a study performed from 2009 to 2013 among the outpatients of the Clinic of Affective Disorders of the National Institute of Psychiatry.
The researcher said that according with the results, those people affected delay seeking care between 8 to 12 years, until consequences are evident. Personal repercussions include abandonment of academic-professional goals, a divorce, legal problems and substance abuse, which would have been stopped with timely detection. Furthermore, family impacts include the waste of savings and assets to fund treatments.
Currently, patients are treated with mood stabilizers, although cognitive-behavioral therapy is also used. Based on the study results, Vargas Huicochea said that not all family members care for the patient and who assumes that responsibility (the first informal care giver) is a woman.
The researcher noted that although anyone experiences mood swings, it is important to note whether these modifications extend or intensify. “This has nothing to do with personality, is a disease with implications for the individual’s life.”
She added that there are few therapeutic tools, “we are not a society that promotes preventive rehabilitation resources. If it is difficult for the patient, it is more for the family.”
The researcher emphasized the need to raise awareness among the population, providing supported information about this psychopathology. She added that it is important detecting it early, and to promote a homogeneous distribution of psychiatrists, since there are a few practitioners nationwide and nearly all focus in the Federal District.
“If professionals and the family work together, and they listen what the patient says about their lives and experiences, the situation would improve,” she said.
Source: DGCS UNAM
