On my most recent General Practice Placement, a patient presented to the practice to obtain a script for medication to control her bipolar disorder. The patient was in her late 50s, and had been taking this medication for approximately 30 years. She described to the General Practitioner her pathway to finding an exact combination of medications to control the disorder, and the times she had been non-adherent to the medication and the consequences of this.
I decided to learn more about Bipolar Disorder, and the barriers to medication adherence.
Bipolar disorder (BPD) is a medical disorder characterised by a number of different mood states: mania, hypermania, depression, and a mixed state. Psycopharmacological treatment for BPD is therefore used mainly to …show more content…
Non-adherence to medication in Bipolar Disorder has been associated with a range of poor clinical outcomes including higher rates of hospital admissions, higher rates of suicide, and recurrence of acute episodes, particularly mania (Adams & Scott, 2000).
It has been suggested that clinicians often misunderstood the reasons patients were not adherent with medication (Pope & Scott, 2003). It is therefore very important as a healthcare professional to be familiar with some of the reasons why people may not be adherent to this medication, but also keep an open mind and ensure effective communication with the patient in front of you.
I then researched some of the reasons why people may be non-adherent to bipolar medication. Several factors have been found to influence medication adherence, including the age of the individual, the complicated nature of the treatment regime, family and societal response to medication taking, and the subjective experiences of the individual with the disorder as treatment progresses (Goldman & Post,
I decided to learn more about Bipolar Disorder, and the barriers to medication adherence.
Bipolar disorder (BPD) is a medical disorder characterised by a number of different mood states: mania, hypermania, depression, and a mixed state. Psycopharmacological treatment for BPD is therefore used mainly to …show more content…
Non-adherence to medication in Bipolar Disorder has been associated with a range of poor clinical outcomes including higher rates of hospital admissions, higher rates of suicide, and recurrence of acute episodes, particularly mania (Adams & Scott, 2000).
It has been suggested that clinicians often misunderstood the reasons patients were not adherent with medication (Pope & Scott, 2003). It is therefore very important as a healthcare professional to be familiar with some of the reasons why people may not be adherent to this medication, but also keep an open mind and ensure effective communication with the patient in front of you.
I then researched some of the reasons why people may be non-adherent to bipolar medication. Several factors have been found to influence medication adherence, including the age of the individual, the complicated nature of the treatment regime, family and societal response to medication taking, and the subjective experiences of the individual with the disorder as treatment progresses (Goldman & Post,