Bipolar Disorder: A Medical History

Marla is a 42-year-old Hipic female who comes to the mental health clinic complaining of having trouble sleeping, feeling “jumpy all of the time,” and experiencing an inability to concentrate. These symptoms are causing problems for her at work, where she is an accountant. Resources: Appendix A, Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology, and the Faces of Abnormal Psychology Interactive application at the McGraw Hill Higher Education Web site Write a 1,400- to 1,750-word paper analyzing Marla’s disorder. Address the following:

Decide which disorder Marla may have using the information in the Faces of Abnormal Psychology Interactive Application at http://www. mhhe. com/socscience/psychology/faces/#. The profile introduction will match more than one of the disorders found in the application. You must choose one of the disorders and complete the profile. Include the 10 question from the week Four CheckPoint. Summarize the disorder using the information provided in the interactive application. Explain the origin of the disorder and any potential treatments by using one of the models of abnormality found in Ch. of Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology. * * 1. Tell me some basic information about yourself… Name, age,etc Marla, 42 Hipic female 2. What brings you in to see me? Having trouble sleeping, feeling jumpy, lack of concentration, affecting her accountant job 3. Why do you feel that you need a clinical interview? For the larger part of her life she has been fighting depression, suicide thoughts, 2 attempts of suicide, self mutilation period 4. How do you feel most days? Worthless, low, no energy 5. Is there anything that makes you more happy/sad?

Shopping, spending money to make she appear nicer, looks 6. How long have you been experiencing these feelings? Most of her life but in the past couple of years it has gotten worse 7. How is your relationship with your parents? Father knows him but has never been around, molestation, “she was never his son” had son straightened up but Marla wasn’t worth it Mother a drunk in bed at 7, cheated, and raised her by herself and new husband 8. How often do you go out and socialize? Homebody 9. Have you noticed anything specific that triggers your moods?

Anything, everything, stupid people, people in general 10. Is there anything else you feel like sharing with me? My life sucks and my wife says that my moods suck and I go from on top of the world to being underneath it in. 1second After meeting with Marla and doing my initial interview with her, where Marla revealed that she has been clinically diagnosed with depression. Marla has much more mental disorders than just depression. She has lived her life trying to be enough for her dad, mom, everybody else in her life. Marla was never taught love, acceptance.

I am diagnosing Marla with Bipolar disorder with ADHD with anger tendencies. Marla has a feeling of jumpiness and lacks concentration, which is affecting her accounting job. Marla informed me in our interview that she knows her father but he was never really around. He tried to buy her love and gave her a lot of empty promises. Marla’s father use to tell her that she was not his son, that he always wanted a son and that she was not. She had animosity towards her father for straightening his life out once his son was born. This left her with feelings of not being enough for his love.

Carrying this feeling her entire love grew to anger as an adult. Her father did not matter anymore but that pain she felt as a child she turned into anger. Marla’s mother raised her but she was a drunk. Her mother married a new husband, showed Marla how to cheat on this man. When that marriage failed lived with another who made fun of Marla for being a lesbian. Her mother cheated on him with who would become her husband now. Marla has periods of mania more often than she is happy. Marla went through more serious and long periods of mania where she went through self mutilation phases.

During these times Marla has attempted suicide many times, two times she was hospitalized. When Marla is feeling low, she has realized that she likes to shop to make her appearance appear pricier. I came to my diagnoses of Bipolar with ADHD with severe anger tendencies due to the following facts. ADHD’s symptoms include difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty controlling behavior, and hyperactivity (over-activity). Bipolar Disorder is a condition in which people go back and forth between periods of a very good or irritable mood and depression.

The “mood swings” between mania and depression can be very quick. Bipolar individuals go from manic to mania in a split second or in some cases over lap each other. The manic phase may last from days to months. It can include the following symptoms: * Easily distracted * Little need for sleep * Poor judgment * Poor temper control * Reckless behavior and lack of self control * Binge eating, drinking, and/or drug use * Poor judgment * Sex with many partners (promiscuity) * Spending sprees * Very elevated mood * Excess activity (hyperactivity) * Increased energy * Racing thoughts Talking a lot * Very high self-esteem (false beliefs about self or abilities) * Very involved in activities * Very upset (agitated or irritated) These symptoms of mania occur with bipolar disorder I. In people with bipolar disorder II, the symptoms of mania are similar but less intense. The depressed phase of both types of bipolar disorder includes the following symptoms: * Daily low mood or sadness * Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions * Eating problems * Loss of appetite and weight loss * Overeating and weight gain * Fatigue or lack of energy Feeling worthless, hopeless, or guilty * Loss of pleasure in activities once enjoyed * Loss of self-esteem * Thoughts of death and suicide * Trouble getting to sleep or sleeping too much * Pulling away from friends or activities that were once enjoyed There is a high risk of suicide with bipolar disorder. Patients may abuse alcohol or other substances, which can make the symptoms and suicide risk worse. Sometimes the two phases overlap. Manic and depressive symptoms may occur together or quickly one after the other in what is called a mixed state. (http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. ov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001924/) Some individuals may be diagnosed with both ADHD and bipolar disorder. Unfortunately, some are misdiagnosed because the symptoms of the two disorders can overlap or look similar. In mania, individuals may appear distracted, always moving and restless, which may look similar to symptoms of hyperactivity. Also, individuals with ADHD may demonstrate some mood symptoms, but not to the extreme necessary for a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. It is important to ensure that an individual meets the criteria for both of the disorders, rather than just demonstrating symptoms that could be construed as both. http://www. livestrong. com/article/252912-adhd-bipolar-disorder-in-adults/). The treatments for these disorders are medications such as, Adderall, and or Vyvance, there are also non stimulant medications such as Strattera. With the stimulation medications most individuals are put on a sleeping agent to bring them down such as Clonodine. Medications for Bipolar can include Abilify, and or Cymbalta. Most Bipolar individuals take an anxiety agent as well. Individuals such as Marla may be prescribed Adderall, Clonodine, Abilify, and Depokote.

The disorder ADHD originated in 1902, there is the first documented disorder relating to impulsiveness. This was in Britain, and the doctor who diagnosed the impulsive disorder was named Dr. Still. He called this disorder “Defect of Moral Control” and he believed that the diagnosed individual had a medical disorder beyond their control. (http://ezinearticles. com/? History-of-ADHD&id=217254). Bipolar disorder is perhaps one of the oldest known illnesses. Research reveals some mention of the symptoms in early medical records. It was first noticed as far back as the second century.

Aretaeus of Cappadocia (a city in ancient Turkey) first recognized some symptoms of mania and depression, and felt they could be linked to each other. His findings went unnoticed and unsubstantiated until 1650, when a scientist named Richard Burton wrote a book, The Anatomy of Melancholia, which focused specifically on depression. His findings are still used today by many in the mental health field, and he is credited with being the father of depression as a mental illness. (http://www. caregiver. com/channels/bipolar/articles/brief_history. htm).