Counseling for Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar Disorder Therapist Serving Yucaipa, Redlands, and all the Inland Empire [Phone and Video Sessions Available]

Are you looking to find help for bipolar disorder? Lifepaths Counseling Service may be exactly what you are looking for. A bipolar disorder therapist from our office can help. Dr. Pam Perez has extensive experience helping people with bipolar disorder. Contact us today if you are interested in scheduling a free consultation.

Counseling plays an essential role in managing and treating bipolar disorder, and Bipolar Disorder therapy can provide a safe space for individuals to express their feelings and thoughts. Through various therapeutic techniques, counseling aims to help individuals identify triggers and develop coping mechanisms for mood swings. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) are two commonly used approaches that have shown effectiveness in treating symptoms of bipolar disorder.

In addition to individual counseling, group therapy can provide additional benefits, such as peer support and social skills training. Loved ones can also benefit from family therapy sessions, which aim to educate the entire family about the disorder and how best to support the individual in their journey.

Bipolar disorder overview

Bipolar disorder is a condition that always requires pharmacological intervention. Bipolar disorder causes a person to experience extreme emotional highs (called mania) and lows in their moods. The condition is not curable, but it is very definitely treatable.

Those with Bipolar disorder experience very intense emotions and often display uncharacteristic behaviors (see the list below). Unfortunately, the person suffering with the condition may not recognize it at the time, nor do they see the harmful and undesirable effects their behaviors are having on those around them. Such behaviors can last for days or weeks.

There are three subtypes of bipolar disorder; all of these will cause changes in mood, energy, and a person’s thought patterns. Moods will range on a continuum, depending upon the type of disorder a person has (Bipolar I disorder, Bipolar II disorder, Cyclothymia).

Bipolar I disorder

Bipolar I Disorder is diagnosed when someone has a manic episode that last at least 7 days. Mania is very typically followed by depression that lasts at least 2 weeks. Mixed episodes (mania and depression together) are also possible. A person experiencing a manic episode:

  • May feel extremely agitated, high, elated, irritable, or edgy.
  • May have a decreased need for sleep
  • May talk very fast, rapidly changing topics as a result of their racing thoughts
  • Believe they can do multiple things all at once
  • Display poor judgment and reckless behavior
  • Feel over important, powerful, or gifted and talented

Once the manic mood has passed, they will display the very opposite of these things.

  • Extreme sadness and hopelessness
  • Oversleeping, unable to get out of bed
  • Increased appetite and weight gain
  • Difficulty concentrating, long silences, forgetfulness
  • Extreme lethargy, difficulty in decision making
  • Little interest in most activities

Bipolar II disorder

While someone with Bipolar II Disorder will not experience these symptoms to the same degree or extreme, they will experience hypomania (a less severe form of mania) and depression. If this condition is not treated, it can develop into the more severe form above (Bipolar I).

Cyclothymia

Cyclothymia is defined as period of hypomanic symptoms as well as depressive symptoms lasting 2 years or more (or 1 year in adolescents and children).