What Is It?
A psychiatric condition in which patients experience emotional dysregulation, activity disruption and cognitive complications.
Bipolar disorder affects 6 million Americans and 60 million people worldwide. The disorder is commonly characterized by the states of mania and depression. During these states, patients engage in different kinds of behaviors, which can cause harm to their livelihood.
Manic episodes are characterized by a patient feeling like they are “Superman”, where they have a lot of energy and feel like they can do multiple things at once. Symptoms during the manic phase include fast and disordered speech, restlessness and engaging in risky behavior such as fast-driving or spending a lot of money. When untreated, patients can ruin their credit, empty their savings or get in trouble with the law.
Depressive episodes are the exact opposite: patients in the depressive state may sleep too much, feel like they have no energy and may have thoughts of harming themselves. It is important that patients receive appropriate care as the depressive stage can produce negative thoughts that can have fatal consequences.
What Can Be Done?
Intervention for bipolar disorder includes medication, environmental changes, job and educational support and psychotherapy.
Patients see a mental health professional such as a psychiatrist and can work with an occupational therapist for work related complications or a social worker to be connected to services within their community.
Patients with bipolar disorder may experience cognitive complications as developmentally their brains are different from people without bipolar disorder. Cognitive problems experience by patients include difficulty planning, working memory problems and language deficits.
Cognitive remediation provided by a licensed medical professional can assist with improving cognitive function before and after a patient has an episode of psychosis.
How Can HappyNeuron Pro Help?
HappyNeuron Pro can be used as a tool to deliver cognitive remediation therapy.
With HappyNeuron Pro, the clinician can assign homework that the patient can complete from home. All that is needed for both the therapist and patient is an internet connection and a compatible device such as a tablet, laptop or desktop computer.
HappyNeuron Pro provides a variety of exercises that target executive functioning, language, visuospatial skills, attention and processing speed such as:
Basketball in NY
Exercises short-term memory as well as teaching the patient to create mnemonics to remember relevant information.
N-Back
Tell when an item matches one previously shown N-steps previously. Great for memory and sustained attention.
Root It Out
Trains memory preservation and extinction.
Decipher
Executive function and language are challenged in this exercise. Your patient will have to decipher a famous quotation by pairing symbols with the correct letter. Many settings can be modified to make this exercise as challenging as your patient can handle.
Writing in the Stars
Trains logical reasoning for use in keeping track of appointments and engaging in group activities.
Two Timing
Participants strengthen ability to pay attention to two different sources of information, visual and auditory.
In addition, we provide exercises that focus on other domains of cognition such as Memory, Executive Function, Visual Memory, Language, the Auditory system, and Verbal Memory.
We have been well received by patients struggling with psychiatric illnesses. Clinical settings using a NEAR model to structure their therapy have adapted us as a tool within their practice. We encourage you to try out our software with your patient and see if HappyNeuron Pro may be an ideal fit for both you and them.
How Do We Fit Into Your Practice?
Bipolar disorder can impact a person’s ability to live independently, but most people with bipolar disorder can live on their own. More severe cases can cause patients to stay short or long-term within a psychiatric care facility until they are stable.
Care for bipolar disorder is commonly provided by psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and occupational therapists. Other kinds of therapists can be involved as part of a patient’s care team as bipolar disorder impacts cognitive function, mental health, and motor skills.
You can provide therapy for your patient in their home, in your clinic, or in a group setting. We can be adapted for group therapy by connecting an HDMI cord from a computer to a television screen. If you would like your patient to continue practicing skills you are assisting them build, you can assign them exercises to complete at home. All your patient needs is an internet connection and a device such as a tablet, laptop, or desktop computer.
To experience first hand how we can be integrated as a tool in your rehabilitation strategy plan for your patient living with bipolar disorder, try our 15 Day Free Trial. You will have access to all of our content and resources, as well as be able to assign your patients relevant exercises and see their progress in real-time.
Page last updated on May 31,2019
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HappyNeuron Pro is a registered trademark owned by HappyNeuron, SBT group.
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