Bipolar Disorder and Health Humanities Therapy

In the early days of the poliovirus, the medical community had very little understanding of the illness. It took a long time for a physician to be certain that a patient had the disease instead of a simple cold; tests at the time could not reveal the differences between the symptoms. Often, doctors would decide a person had polio and the next day it would become clear that they were almost completely healthy. Conversely, some unlucky souls were given a clean bill of health, and soon after fell into a much more serious condition. While the illness has largely been eradicated, at least in the west, modern medicine can distinguish the differences between the two diseases. Misdiagnoses are a part of medical science; and as long as doctors are practicing, there will continue to be mistakes like that. What is true for physical illness is just as true, sometimes more so, with mental illness. Of the varying cerebral problems inflicting themselves on people today, one of the most commonly misunderstood diseases is bipolar disorder. All too often, doctors see patients with bipolar disorder as something they’re not. Misdiagnoses that result from those mistakes lead to greater hardship for those who are afflicted. Unfortunately, even after the correct diagnosis is assigned, common therapies for bipolar disorder are usually too dependent on drugs to course correct. The medical community is too averse to implementing health humanities concepts as effective tools to understand and treat people suffering from mental disorders. 

By nature, bipolar disorder is difficult to diagnose. Make no mistake; it is not through incompetency that physicians have had problems understanding bipolar patients. The disease manifests in two very different phases which can be active for long periods of time. Radical changes in an afflicted person’s behavior make what is a clear-cut case of depression one day into a seemingly-simple diagnosis of attention-deficit-hyperactive disorder (ADHD). Bipolar disorder is a manic-depressive illness in which a patient experiences a wide-range, sometimes drastic, spectrum of emotions, which are usually catalogued into two groups known as the manic phase and the depressive phase. When a person is manic, they exhibit symptoms of abnormally-high energy, overly-positive thinking, hyperactivity, disregard for obvious consequences of their actions, and impulses to ignore their responsibilities. A person who is undergoing a manic episode can often appear extremely joyful; they are the classic “happy-go-lucky” individual. Some mental health professionals have likened people in a manic state to someone under the influence of amphetamines (Hirschfeld, 2003).

Someone suffering from bipolar disorder in the depressive state appears for all purposes like a patient with chronic depression. A persistent lack of energy and constant negative thinking characterize this period. The classic negativity, desire to be alone, and general malaise-sometimes building to a more extreme and acute sadness-is in evidence when a bipolar patient is in a depressive phase. 

It is most common for a manic depressive to consult a doctor while in a depressive phase. While manic, the patient is often extremely positive and often confident about the future; thus leading that person to believe that their situation is fine. However, a person facing a bout of depression is much more clearly in need of help. Often this is more obvious to people around the patient and even the patient him/herself. As a result of this tendency, the majority of misdiagnoses for manic depressives is some form of unipolar depression. Doctors only interact with patients who are in the midst of a depressive episode, and, as a result, don’t have an opportunity to diagnose the mania for what it is (Hirschfield, 2000).

There are also a smaller portion of manic depressive patients who consult physicians during a manic period. They are often seeking treatment to alleviate a lack of focus or difficulty sleeping. While patients in this situation are likely aware of problems with depression, they tend to downplay the degree to which they are afflicted. Given that most people (especially college students) don’t want to admit they have depression, and that this is especially true for someone who is in a manic state, often the depressive aspect of the disorder gets overlooked or underplayed. Due to this unintentional miscommunication, a doctor often diagnoses ADHD. Many people suffering from ADHD will exhibit the same lack of focus, high-energy, and difficulty with attention to detail as manic depressives in a manic phase. 

Eventually, the real situation comes out, and doctors are able to see the signs pointing towards bipolar disorder as opposed to mania. Unfortunately, this is usually only the first step. In today’s medical environment, often physicians just prescribe drugs to curb a patient’s symptoms instead of attacking the real heart of the problem; the disease itself and why it’s afflicting someone never gets understood. While it certainly is important to alleviate symptoms and help patients be comfortable, functioning members of society capable of taking care of themselves and staying healthy, drugs should only be a stopgap measure. When it comes to mental health, taking a pill cannot take the place of eradicating the disease itself. 

Imagine a ship at sea being buffeted by a great storm; the sails are in tatters and there are leaks everywhere. Any good captain would order his or her sailors to plug the leaks with whatever possible; and, when the wind dies down; repair the sails with any old cloth so the vessel can return to port. Once there, even though the ship is somewhat seaworthy again, the crew will immediately begin repairs in full, so they can make it strong enough to withstand the next storm. The same is true of mental health. Far too often, when doctors are trying to help someone going through a storm they give the patient whatever they need to make it through, and rightly so. However, they don’t make adjustments so that when the next storm comes, as it always does, the patient is ready to handle it. 

In a 2014 article for Psychology Today “Over-prescribing drugs to treat mental health problems,” Dr. Graham Davey elaborated on this problem saying, “the most recent figures tend to suggest that as many as 57% of people with mental health problems are being treated solely with medications without any form of psychotherapy (and) that figure is going up…However, there are numerous good reasons why drugs alone should not be the reflexive treatment of choice for many mental health problems” (Davey, 2014). Davey goes on to list a litany of strong reasons why drugs are not a sufficient bulwark against illnesses, including bipolar disorder, ADHD, and unipolar depression. These include the probability of “medicinizing patients,” or creating people completely dependent on drugs for mental wellbeing. Dependency like this is never healthy, but in today’s era of treatment, cost is a factor that cannot be ignored, and chronic problems can create financial difficulties for life. He also discusses the many unfortunate side-effects these drugs can cause, and they are certainly an aspect that should be eliminated if possible. 

Health humanities can be an excellent alternative to drugs when treating mental illness. An oft-misunderstood term, health humanities refers to the practice of healing using the arts as forms of expression, as well as open discussion to help people recognize, understand, and come to terms with their health issues. This technique is most effective in treating chronic illnesses, as one of the main goals of health humanities is to promote understanding health and wellbeing. In Health Humanities, Paul Crawford explains, “(the goal is to) extend ‘appliedness’ in relation to how arts and humanities knowledge and practices can inform and transform healthcare, health and well-being…through unconventional routes patients can effectively understand their condition…” (Crawford 2015).

A patient suffering from bipolar disorder may respond especially well to health humanities-related treatment. Apart from curbing episodes of mania and depression, a big part of bipolar disorder is realizing what is going on, coming to terms with that reality, and dealing with it in a healthy way. Therapy through health humanities, listening, watching, learning, and then expressing through artistic endeavor, aided by a psychotherapist trained in handling this type of behavior, could be the real cure to a mental issue plaguing a part of the American populous (Crawford, 2016). A subtle hand guiding someone to help them understand what this disease means and how it has shaped them is likely going to much more efficacious than a strong arm wielding modern medicine like a blunt instrument; with little regard to true understanding, and a lack of inflexion towards real progress. Treating symptoms instead of diseases should be a last resort, not an only option. 

Understand, health humanities are not an alternative to science; but an augmentation. They don’t clash with modern medicine; they are simply another way of examining the process doctors use to help people in need of assistance. Even a blunt instrument can be very effective in carrying out the broad strokes of a necessary operation. However, health humanities are the right tool to fine-tune the psyche. An oft-heard line in this area of medicine is “if the human brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn’t” (Edgin Pugh, et al., 1977). If that is true, then physicians, not to be melodramatic, should bring the whole weight of the human soul to bear fixing it. The human race’s highest ideals and purest truths are hidden amidst the pages of great literature and in the brush strokes of visual masterpieces. Those suffering under the yoke of mental illness, including and especially bipolar disorder, deserve to benefit from and contribute to that vast repository of achievement; and in doing so, hopefully find peace of mind.

References

Crawford, P. (2015). Health Humanities. Retrieved February 3, 2017, from http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137282613_1

Davey, G. (2014). Over-Prescribing Drugs to Treat Mental Problems. Retrieved February 3, 2017, from PsychologyToday.com

Edgin Pugh. (1977). If the Human Brain... Retrieved February 3, 2017, from brainyquote.com

Hirschfeld, R. M. (2003). Perceptions and Impact of Bipolar Disorder. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry,64(2), 161-174. Retrieved February 3, 2017.