Building a Successful Treatment Team

When you have other illnesses, you’re usually well aware that you are not feeling well, and you seek some form of medical treatment. When you’re manic or depressed, however, you may not realize what’s going on and may actually do your best to avoid treatment. That’s why it’s so important to have a solid bipolar disorder treatment team in place—to care for you when you’re not able to care for yourself and help you stay on course.

In this article, we cover the basics of building a strong and effective bipolar treatment team.

Team Leader

Your team leader is the coordinator and communications hub. This person is usually your psychiatrist or therapist, although a close friend or family member could certainly perform this role. As team leader, this person is responsible for the following:

• Meeting with you regularly to monitor your progress and mood stability.
• Making sure you see your doctor at least a couple times a year, and more frequently during times of instability.
• Making sure you see your therapist regularly.
• Advocating for you at school, work, or wherever you need someone to step in and explain what’s going on.

A team leader is crucial in ensuring continuity of care and making sure you remain proactive. When your moods are under control, it’s far too easy to start letting things slide. Having someone on your side looking out for you can often keep a mild or moderate mood episode from turning into a major event.

Psychiatrist

A key member of your team is your psychiatrist or psychopharmacologist—your p-doc. Your p-doc serves two important functions:

• Accurately diagnosing your illness.
• Prescribing medications to adjust your brain chemistry and reduce your susceptibility to future mood episodes.

Medication doesn’t cure your bipolar disorder, but it helps regulate your moods so you can function and begin to deal with real-life issues that may trigger mood swings.

Ideally, your p-doc does more than simply adjust and dispense medications. He or she can be your treatment team leader, a close confidante, or even a therapist. However, insurance companies have forced most p-docs into playing the limited roles of diagnostician and pharmacologist. Your insurance may approve an initial consultation of 30 minutes to an hour, but you can expect most of your follow-up visits to run about 15 minutes.

Tip: Schedule several appointments your p—doc or therapist well in advance, and then, if you don’t need a particular appointment, call a few days ahead of time to cancel. It’s better to cancel an appointment you don’t need than not being able to get in for several weeks or even months.

Therapist

Another key member of your treatment team is your therapist, who usually ends up acting as team leader. Your therapist picks up where your psychiatrist leaves off, assisting you in making positive lifestyle changes that reduce stress and establish healthy thinking patterns, enabling you to cope more effectively with unavoidable stress. A therapist, for example, may teach you techniques for identifying problems and developing solutions rather than allowing your brain to follow a less productive thought pattern.

A therapist can play many additional roles on your mood-management team, acting as coach, career consultant, mood monitor, marriage or relationship counselor, and wellness manager.

When choosing a therapist, make sure the person is a good match and has the time and resources to meet your needs:

• Compassionate and understanding, but able to remain firm when you need it.
• Someone you feel as though you can team up with.
• Experienced in providing therapy to individuals with bipolar disorder and their families.
• Available when you need to talk. Waiting a week or more for an appointment can be too long.

Tip: Your therapist and psychiatrist often function as co-leaders of your team, and their roles may overlap to some degree. Psychiatrists often play some role in therapy, education, and support functions, and therapists, with their patients’ permission, may contact psychiatrists to voice concerns when they think medication adjustments are needed.

Family and Friends

A strong support network of family and friends can function as a valuable ally in the battle against mood swings. When adding family members and friends to your support team, keep the following do’s and don’ts in mind:

• Do choose someone you can confide in—not someone who’s a tell-all.
• Don’t choose someone who’s likely to fuel mood swings. That friend you like to party with may be fun, but if the excitement tends to make you manic, you may want to choose someone else.
• Do choose someone you see at least once a week. The person needs to see you on a regular basis to be able to sense whether your moods are shifting.
• Don’t pick someone who’s judgmental. The person must understand that bipolar disorder is an illness, not something you’ve chosen. You don’t need people who make you feel guilty for having the illness.
• Do choose people who are reliable. If your support group bails out on you at the first sign of trouble, they’re not much of a support group.
• Do choose people who respect you. You don’t want people who are going to treat you like a child.