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Bipolar Disorder
(PS002)
Introduction

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Bipolar disorder, also called manic depression, is a disorder of mood or affect that affects children and adolescents as well as adults. This disorder is characterized by two opposite extremes of mood: mania and depression.

The usual pattern of bipolar disorder is one of increasing intensity and duration of symptoms that progresses slowly over many years. However, symptoms and severity may vary significantly between individuals. Bipolar disorder can be severe and long-term, or it can be mild with infrequent episodes.

Bipolar disorder can have significant consequences on an individual's life. Impaired thinking and judgement can lead to poor decision making and impulsiveness. This can have disastrous effects on one's physical and sexual health, and financial and social wellbeing.

Treatment of Bipolar Disorder consists of a combination of medication and other forms of therapy. Several promising new treatments are currently under investigation.

Get the Facts... with your MediFocus Guide

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This Medifocus Guide on Bipolar Disorder provides answers to the following important questions and medical issues:

• What are the most common symptoms of bipolar disorder?
  
• Are there any recognized risk factors for developing bipolar disorder?
  
• What kinds of medical tests are used to establish the diagnosis of bipolar disorder?
  
• What is the current standard of care for the treatment of bipolar disorder?
  
• What treatment options are available for the management of bipolar disorder?
  
• Are there any promising new developments or potential breakthroughs in treatment?
  
• Who are the most notable medical authorities who specialize in bipolar disorder?
  
• What are the leading hospitals and centers of research for bipolar disorder?
  
• What are the most important questions to ask my doctor about bipolar disorder?
  

What Your Doctor Reads:

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This MediFocus Guide contains an extensive listing of citations and abstracts of recent journal articles that have been published about this condition in trustworthy medical journals. This is the same type of information that is available to physicians and other health care professionals. A partial selection of journal articles that are abstracted in this MediFocus Guide includes:

• Adjuvant therapy of melanoma with interferon-alpha-2b is associated with mania and bipolar syndromes.
  Cancer. 2000
• The Expert Consensus Guideline Series: Medication Treatment of Bipolar Disorder 2000.
  Postgraduate Medicine. 2000
• The genes for major psychosis: aberrant sequence or regulation?.
  Neuropsychopharmacology. 2000
• Reduced suicide risk during lithium maintenance treatment.
  Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2000
• Integration of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy for bipolar disorder.
  Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2000
• The treatment of bipolar depression.
  Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2000
• Suicide and bipolar disorder.
  Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2000
• Efficacy of lithium in mania and maintenance therapy of bipolar disorder.
  Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2000
• Bipolar disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children and adolescents.
  Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2000
• The longitudinal course of bipolar disorder.
  Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2000

MediFocus Guides... When You Need Trustworthy Medical Information

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MediFocus.com understands that consumers who are facing serious medical issues need access to credible, up-to-date medical information to help them make informed health-care decisions. That's why we've developed the MediFocus Guides...the most advanced and trustworthy patient research guides for over 200 chronic and life-threatening conditions. Each MediFocus Guide includes a detailed overview of the condition including information about diagnosis, treatment options, cutting-edge research, and new developments; excerpts of important journal articles from the current medical literature focusing on standard treatments and treatment options; a directory of leading authors and medical institutions who specialize in the treatment of the condition; and a listing of organizations and support groups where you can obtain additional information about the illness.

MediFocus Guides are the perfect solution for consumers who wish to gain an in-depth understanding of their medical issue and avail themselves of the same type of professional level medical information that is used by physicians and other health-care professionals to help then in the clinical decision making process.

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