Bipolar disorder is a lifelong illness that comes with many ups and downs, and it’s quite difficult to diagnose. If you suspect that your mood changes could be caused by bipolar disorder, you should consult your medical practitioner right away. The sooner a person seeks help, the sooner they’ll receive the correct diagnosis. The majority of bipolar patients live with the symptoms for years and see at least three doctors before they find out what their symptoms mean.
If left undiagnosed, bipolar disorder can make life a living hell — during the manic phase, people tend to act impulsively and lose many relationships and possessions. During the depressive phase, it’s even hard to get out of bed. Early treatment can decrease all of the symptoms and lead to a more stable and happy life.
Bipolar disorder leads to extreme shifts in a person’s energy levels and mood. There is no cure, but various treatment options can be successful when it comes to managing the symptoms of the disease. Alongside medication, lifestyle changes and psychotherapy have been the most effective so far.
It’s important to stick to a comprehensive treatment plan that can relieve your symptoms, help you function normally again, as well as prevent relapses. These plans usually involve drug therapy, support and education about the disease, lifestyle management, and of course talk therapy. Some of the popular options include cognitive behavioral therapy, psychoeducation, and the one we’re talking more about today – interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT).
How can IPSRT manage bipolar disorder?
Psychotherapy is a crucial part of the treatment of bipolar disorder. Unlike in the past when most sessions were one-on-one between patient and therapist, nowadays these therapies can be conducted in family or group settings as well. One of the more well-known and currently the most praised forms of psychotherapy is interpersonal and social rhythm therapy.
It was developed by Ellen Frank, a distinguished professor of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. IPSRT is based on the idea that solving interpersonal problems and following strict everyday routines — including waking, eating, and sleeping — along with taking medications can increase the quality of life for people with bipolar disorder.
Interpersonal therapy focuses on a person’s most important relationships and the issues surrounding them. By improving the relationships in your life, you also reduce stress — the most common trigger for mania or depression. This part of therapy can do a lot to prevent mood-cycling. Interpersonal therapy is focused on “here and now”, helping you to change your behavior and improve your relationships, rather than simply teaching you to understand how they work. By learning and implementing new skills, you can decrease stress as the most common trigger of bipolar disorder.
Social rhythm therapy focuses on establishing patterns. The most important and so-called habitual daily behaviors — like getting out of bed, having breakfast, starting work, school or other activities like housework, having dinner, and going to bed — should happen approximately at the same time every day. It’s well-known that people with bipolar disorder have disrupted inner biological clocks or circadian rhythms. This disrupts daily behaviors or “social rhythms”, which is a real viscous cycle. Working on your social rhythms brings more stability to the biological rhythms that control your mood.
Does Interpersonal And Social Rhythm Therapy work for bipolar disorder?
According to the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD), a long-term study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), patients who received any form of psychotherapy (IPSRT; CBT, or family-focused therapy) along with their medications were 1.58 times more likely to feel well.
This study also indicated that talk therapy speeds up recovery rates. After the discovery of lithium, this is one of the most important findings regarding the treatment of bipolar disorder, but more randomized studies under controlled conditions are necessary to clarify whether IPSRT works to manage bipolar disorder better than other therapeutic approaches.
While medications can do a lot to regulate your emotions if you live with bipolar disorder, learning more about your condition can do an even a better job in the long run.
Leaning about the symptoms, triggers, and the differences between “bipolar” and “normal” emotions is important not only people who have bipolar disorder, but friends and family members as well. Battling a mental condition can be challenging for entire families, so experts encourage everyone from family and friends to support their loved ones and attend the therapy sessions from time to time to improve the relationships and learn more about how to support their loved ones with bipolar disorder.
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