My mum is really suffering with her bi-polar disorder. Despite taking handfuls of pills to treat it, she’s depressed all the time. What can I do to help her? 

Manic depression is usually chronic illness. It is a spectrum illness which means on one end of the spectrum somebody could have severe mood disorder (Mania/Hypomania with or without depression) and on the other end of the spectrum it may be mild and easily treated with medications and therapy. It is important to take the following factors into consideration.

 * Number of years of being ill.

* Family History and genetic loading.

 * Stresses of life – Psychosocial, Financial, illness, death in family etc.

 * Medications and doses tried in the past and responses.

* Severity of Symptoms.

 * Prior Hospital Admissions due to Mental health Problem.

The way to help your mum is to take her to a doctor after making a note of her history.

Treatment Compliance is vital, because Psychiatric medication may have latent time period before there is observable treatment effect.

Correct knowledge of a medication’s response time and treatment is necessary to deal with frustration of not having immediate response. The doctor also needs a plan to deal with acute symptoms.

 How ever even treatment resistant cases may show improvement with good strategy and use of right medications at right doses for sufficient duration.

Disclaimer: All contents on this site are for general information and in no circumstances information be substituted for professional advise from th relevent healthcare professional, Writer does not take responsibilitiy of any damage done by the misuse or use of the information