Bipolar Disorder Treatment in New Jersey
Program
Bipolar disorder creates intense mood swings. These shifts from manic highs to crushing lows can derail jobs and strain relationships. When mood episodes start controlling your life, finding the right treatment center is necessary. Specialized treatment centers tackle both the brain chemistry and emotional patterns behind bipolar disorder.
Pathways Behavioral Health provides a compassionate, evidence-based approach to helping adults in New Jersey navigate these challenges. The facility is committed to aiding in recovery. It offers flexible, accessible programs that allow individuals to receive comprehensive care while staying connected to home and community.
What Is Bipolar Disorder?
Bipolar disorder is a chronic mental health condition characterized by significant shifts in mood, energy, and activity levels. Symptoms usually show up in the late teens or early twenties.
This mood disorder changes brain chemistry, specifically the neurotransmitters that control how a person feels and reacts. While it’s a lifelong condition, the right treatment helps most people manage symptoms and live full, stable lives.
What Are the Types of Bipolar Disorder?
Bipolar disorder shows up differently in different people. There are three main types, each with its own pattern of mood episodes. Depending on whether symptoms require urgent care or ongoing management, treatment centers build plans around an individual’s specific condition.
Bipolar I is diagnosed after at least one manic episode. The episode must last for 7 days or be severe enough to require hospitalization. You might feel invincible, barely sleep, or take risks you’d never normally consider.
Depressive episodes usually occur as well, typically lasting at least two weeks. You don’t need a depressive episode for a Bipolar I diagnosis; the full manic episode is what defines it. Treatment usually includes mood stabilizers to flatten those extreme highs and keep the cycle from wrecking your routine.
Bipolar II means you experience depressive and hypomanic episodes, but you never hit full mania. Hypomania is a milder form of mood elevation that lasts at least four days.
Most people with Bipolar II seek help for major depression. The hypomanic phases may feel like periods of high productivity or energy. But without treatment, those depressive crashes can be brutal. Treatment works to level out your mood, stopping the deep lows and keeping hypomania in check.
Cyclothymic Disorder (cyclothymia) means your mood swings constantly for at least two years. You go through frequent hypomanic and depressive periods, but they’re not severe enough to count as full episodes.
The swings happen often; you rarely get more than two months of stable mood. Getting help early can stop it from turning into a more severe form of bipolar disorder.
What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder?
Spotting the signs is important to receive an accurate diagnosis and effective treatment. These patterns are categorized into manic (or hypomanic) and depressive episodes. Knowing these symptoms helps you and your family figure out when it’s time to see a professional.
Manic episodes bring abnormally high energy, expansive feelings, or intense irritability. These periods represent a significant shift from a person’s usual state.
Common symptoms of mania include:
- Elevated mood: Feeling intensely happy, “high,” or euphoric for an extended period.
- Decreased need for sleep: Feeling fully rested after only a few hours of sleep, or not sleeping at all.
- Racing thoughts: Experiencing a rapid flow of ideas, making it hard to concentrate or follow a conversation.
- Grandiosity: Having an inflated sense of self-esteem or unrealistic beliefs about one’s abilities or powers.
- Impulsivity: Engaging in risky behaviors like excessive spending, reckless driving, or foolish business investments.
Depressive episodes bring a deep drop in mood and energy. This state is characterized by feelings of sadness and a lack of motivation.
Common symptoms of depression include:
- Persistent sadness: Feeling empty, hopeless, or tearful for most of the day, nearly every day.
- Anhedonia: Losing interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities that were once enjoyable.
- Fatigue: Experiencing extreme tiredness or lack of energy, even with adequate rest.
- Cognitive difficulties: Struggling to focus, remember details, or make simple decisions.
- Sleep changes: Sleeping excessively (hypersomnia) or having trouble falling and staying asleep (insomnia).
- Suicidal thoughts: Thinking about death, dying, or self-harm.
Causes and Risk Factors of Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder likely results from a mix of genetics, brain biology, and life experiences. Genetics matter; if a parent or sibling has bipolar disorder, your risk goes up.
Brain scans show that people with bipolar disorder often have physical brain changes and neurotransmitter imbalances. These biological differences affect how your brain controls mood and energy.
Life stressors can kick off the disorder or trigger episodes. Major stressors, such as losing someone, trauma, or big life changes, can set it off. Substance use can also trigger your first episode or make the condition worse.
How Do Bipolar Disorder and Substance Abuse Co-Occur?
Co-occurring disorders (dual diagnosis) mean you’re dealing with both a mental disorder and a substance use disorder. Alcohol use disorder is the most common pairing, but anxiety disorders also co-occur with bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder and substance use often go hand in hand. A lot of people try to self-medicate with drugs or alcohol, which makes diagnosis and treatment harder. A comprehensive treatment program addresses both the bipolar disorder and the addiction at the same time. Treating just one problem usually backfires; the untreated issue can set off the other.
Substance use can trigger mood episodes, and the pain of bipolar symptoms can push you toward drugs or alcohol for relief. Treating both at once is the only way to break the cycle.
At Pathways Behavioral Health in Burlington, NJ, we understand how mood and addiction affect each other. Treating both conditions together has provided our patients with better healing and recovery outcomes. We strive to always help individuals improve their overall mental wellness and acheive lasting recovery.
Bipolar Disorder Treatment at Pathways Behavioral Health
Pathways Behavioral Health provides structured, compassionate care for bipolar disorder in New Jersey. Our mental health treatment programs deliver expert care while letting you keep up with work, family, and daily life. We focus on stabilizing your mood, building coping skills, and supporting long-term health.
We build treatment plans around you, combining medication with proven therapies. We accept most major insurance plans to make quality care affordable.
Our dual diagnosis treatment program is built for people dealing with both bipolar disorder and addiction. The same clinical team treats both issues, with no handoffs or gaps in care. This prevents the fragmentation of care that often occurs when treating disorders separately.
- Integrated medication management: Careful selection of medications that treat bipolar symptoms without negatively interacting with recovery from substances.
- Specialized group therapy: Sessions focused on the unique challenges of managing a dual diagnosis.
- Safety planning: Creating robust strategies to prevent relapse in both substance use and mood episodes.
Outpatient treatment works well if you’ve found some stability but need ongoing support to keep it. You can live at home, keep your job, or stay in school, and still get regular therapy and medical check-ins.
Services typically include:
- Individual therapy: One-on-one sessions to address personal triggers and challenges.
- Medication management: Regular check-ins to monitor the effectiveness of mood stabilizers and adjust dosages as needed.
- Group support: Opportunities to connect with peers who understand the challenges of living with bipolar disorder.
If you need more than standard outpatient care, our intensive outpatient program (IOP) gives you extra support. You’ll meet three to four days a week for a few hours each session. It’s a good fit if you’re stepping down from inpatient care or if your symptoms need more intensive help.
The IOP curriculum focuses on:
- Skill building: Learning practical strategies for emotional regulation and distress tolerance.
- Psychoeducation: Understanding the biology of bipolar disorder and the importance of medication adherence.
- Relapse prevention: Developing plans to manage stress and avoid triggers for both mood episodes and substance use.
We use proven therapies to treat the whole person, not just the symptoms. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps you spot and change the negative thought patterns that fuel mood swings. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) teaches mindfulness, emotional control, and better relationship skills.
Beyond therapy, we use holistic methods to support your overall health. That might mean stress management, better sleep habits, or lifestyle coaching. We believe recovery means healing all of you, mentally, physically, and emotionally.
Stability and Wellness Are Within Reach at Pathways Behavioral Health
Living with bipolar disorder presents unique challenges, but stability is achievable with the right support. Pathways Behavioral Health is dedicated to providing the expert, compassionate care you need to navigate recovery. Our integrated approach ensures that every aspect of your well-being is addressed.
We invite you to take the next step toward a healthier, more balanced life. Our team is ready to answer your questions and help you find the treatment program that fits your needs. Contact us today to learn more about our bipolar disorder treatment options in New Jersey.
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