Bipolar disorder is a mental illness characterized by extreme mood swings, cycling between major highs and depressive lows. The illness is genetic and usually inherited by a child from a parent. Bipolar patients can test simple holistic treatments that might help stabilize their symptoms.
History
Prior to 1900, little could be done for bipolar patients. Doctors locked them up at home or in hospitals, and administered sedatives such as laudanum, an addictive alcohol and opium mixture.
Effective drug treatments for bipolar disorder, accompanied by psychotherapy, gradually developed during the 20th century, as described in "Manic-Depressive Illness: Bipolar Disorders and Recurrent Depression," by Drs. Frederick K. Goodwin and Kay Redfield Jamison.
Holistic Treatments
Doctors noticed that drug and therapy regimens are not always completely effective. They became interested in finding holistic self-management treatments that bipolar patients could use to supplement their drug and therapy programs. Some promising holistic treatments for bipolar disorder being studied include exercise, fish oil, meditation and eliminating caffeine and smoking.
Exercise
Victorian-era American physicians sometimes sent bipolar patients to swim in lakes during the summer, having noticed that regular swimming helped reduce some bipolar patients' depressions. This exercise hypothesis was tested by Dr. Mohammad Alsuwaidan and several colleagues at the Psychiatry Department of the University of Toronto. They surveyed all English-language articles containing information on bipolar disorder and exercise published since 1966 in a 2008 study, "Exercise and Bipolar Disorder." Alsuwaidan and his colleagues found that structured exercise programs alleviated bipolar emotional and cognitive symptoms.
Diet and Stimulants
Fish oil, available in capsules, has helped some bipolar patients. In a 2008 review, "Efficacy of Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation on Improvement of Bipolar Symptoms," Dr. Teresa Turnbull and her co-authors from the Columbia University School of Nursing reviewed seven studies where omega-3 fatty acid--fish oil--had been given to bipolar patients. Four of the seven studies showed significant improvement in bipolar patients' symptoms. Turnbull and her co-authors recommended that additional studies be done to conclusively prove this treatment's effectiveness.
Another holistic way for bipolar patients to help themselves is to stop smoking and drinking caffeine. A 2009 study of 352 bipolar patients by Dr. Christopher Baethge and his colleagues at the University of Cologne in Germany, "Coffee and Cigarette Use: Association with Suicidal Acts in 352 Sardinian Bipolar Disorder Patients," revealed that drinking coffee and smoking increased bipolar patients' risk of suicide.
Meditation
Anxiety and depression cause many bipolar suicides. A study done by Dr. J. M. Williams and some co-authors of the University of Oxford's Psychiatry Department, "Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in Bipolar Disorder," tested a combination of "mindfulness" meditation techniques combined with cognitive therapy, to see if it would help bipolar patients suffering from depression anxiety. Study results indicated that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy does reduce depression and anxiety symptoms in bipolar patients.
Holistic treatments are not a substitute for therapy and medication, but can be a valuable addition to them. Bipolar patients should not abandon their current drug treatments and psychotherapy.
References
- "Journal of affective disorders"; Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) in bipolar disorder: preliminary evaluation of immediate effects on between-episode functioning; Dr. J. M. Williams et al.; 2007
- National Institute of Mental Health: Bipolar Disorder
- "Neuromolecular Medicine"; Exercise and bipolar disorder: a review of neurobiological mediators; M.T. Alsuwaidan, M.D., et. al.; 2009
- "Archives of psychiatric nursing"; Efficacy of omega-3 fatty acid; T. Turnbull, Dr. NP, et al.; 2008
- "Bipolar disorders"; Coffee and cigarette use: association with suicidal acts in 352 Sardinian bipolar disorder patients; Christopher Baethge, M.D., et al.; August 2009
