Hospitalization is considered an emergency option in bipolar disorder care. It becomes necessary in extreme cases where the disorder is causing someone to be an immediate threat to themselves or others. It may also be used when medications need monitoring or adjustment.
Although most bipolar patients do not require extended inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations, short-term hospitalizations can be necessary during real or potential illness crises (e.g., severe mood episodes, suicidal attempts, untreated bipolar symptoms, bipolar medication adjustments, etc.).
Acute bipolar manic and mixed episodes often constitute medical emergencies, requiring admission to hospital to ensure safety and rapid recovery. However, morbidity from mania is not limited to acute episodes as full recovery of functioning often lags months behind remission of symptoms.
Sometimes, if caught early enough, people experiencing mania can be kept out of the hospital. However, most episodes of mania require hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital for safety and stabilization.
Severe bipolar episodes of mania or depression may include psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations or delusions. Usually, these psychotic symptoms mirror a person's extreme mood. People with bipolar disorder who have psychotic symptoms can be wrongly diagnosed as having schizophrenia.
Although there is no official classification for end stage bipolar disorder, mild structural changes in the brain that lead to cognitive dysfunction can severely reduce someone's quality of life, especially toward the end of life.
Brain Changes
Research shows bipolar disorder may damage the brain over time. Experts think it's because you slowly lose amino acids. They help build the proteins that make up the insulation around your neurons.
Keep trying, asking questions, listening, and reflecting. Help them feel heard and ask again. Continue to say things like, “I'm really worried about you. I'm thinking we should just go get checked out by a doctor to see what's going on.” Reassure them that you'll stay with them and help them through the process.
Symptoms of a manic episode
Feeling extremely happy or excited — even euphoric. Not sleeping or only getting a few hours of sleep but still feeling rested. Having an inflated self-esteem, thinking you're invincible. Being more talkative than usual.
People with bipolar disorder do better when they have support from family members and friends. They tend to recover more quickly, experience fewer manic and depressive episodes, and have milder symptoms.
Mania lasts for a week or more and has a severe negative impact on your ability to do your usual day-to-day activities – often disrupting or stopping these completely. Severe mania is very serious, and often needs to be treated in hospital.
Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness that causes unusual shifts in mood, ranging from extreme highs (mania) to lows (depression).
When left untreated, the symptoms of Bipolar Disorder will often increase in severity and may lead to suicide; there is a high suicide rate for people with the disorder. When treated, it's possible to control the symptoms of Bipolar Disorder and enjoy a more stable and fulfilling life.
However, if you contact your loved one's doctor with concerns that his moods or behaviors are becoming unstable and hospitalization may be required, he or she can work on an involuntary commitment if needed.
Detection of mania, or at least of brief hypomania, is required for diagnosis of bipolar disorder. This diagnosis is often missed or not remembered as an illness. People close to the patient may recall episodes, however, and patients who do not remember episodes of affective disturbance may recall their consequences.
high levels of stress. changes in sleep patterns or lack of sleep. using recreational drugs or alcohol. seasonal changes – for example, some people are more likely to experience hypomania and mania in spring.
When Is It Time to Walk Away? In some cases, the decision to leave is obvious. If physical abuse is present to any degree, and especially if the individual fears for their own life or well-being or that of their children, it's important to leave as soon as possible. Safety is the number one priority.
Today, we know more about bipolar disorder and can be truthful about what we experience. A nervous breakdown is now called a bipolar disorder mood swing.
Bipolar may worsen with age or over time if this condition is left untreated. As time goes on, a person may experience episodes that are more severe and more frequent than when symptoms first appeared.
Such overlaps occur in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, sometimes making it difficult to differentiate between the two. However, these conditions are distinct from one another, and they do not always co-occur. While bipolar disorder cannot develop into schizophrenia, it's possible to experience symptoms of both.
Bipolar disorder is a chronic mental illness with the peak age of onset between 20 and 40 years. Yassa et al2 proposed age 50 as a cut off for the late onset bipolar disorder. They also reported that about 90 percent of cases have onset prior to age 50.
Sleep, negative life events, drug and alcohol use, seasonal changes, the reproductive cycle, as well as goal attainment and positive events can all have a deleterious impact on your stability, triggering a destructive cycle of mood switching.