Assignment: “Captain of the Ship” Project – Bipolar Disorders

Bipolar disorders are severe disorders of mood that include both depressive episodes and expansive, grandiose, or manic episodes. During these times, the person may engage in activities with little awareness of the consequences because of accompanying psychosis. A diagnosis of bipolar disorder includes periods of mania or hypomania and periods of depression where the mood is down, hopeless, and suicidal. The neurovegetative symptoms of bipolar depression can be incapacitating. It is also important to differentiate the psychosis of bipolar disorder from schizophrenia.

In this Assignment, you will become the “captain of the ship” as you provide treatment recommendations and identify medical management, community support resources, and follow-up plans for a client with a bipolar disorder.

To prepare for this Assignment:

Select an adult or older adult client with a bipolar disorder that you have seen.

In 3-4 pages, write a treatment plan for your client. In which you do the following:

Describe the HPI and clinical impression for the client.
Recommend psychopharmacologic treatments and describe specific and therapeutic end points for your psychopharmacologic agent. (This should relate to HPI and clinical impression.).
Recommend psychotherapy choices (individual, family, and group) and specific therapeutic endpoints for your choices.
Identify medical management needs, including primary care needs, specific to this client.
Identify community support resources (housing, socioeconomic needs, etc.) and community agencies that are available to assist the client.
Recommend a plan for follow-up intensity and frequency and collaboration with other providers.

Required Readings( Need 3 + references)

American Nurses Association. (2014). Psychiatric-mental health nursing: Scope and standards of practice (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

· Standard 13 “Collaboration” (pages 78-79)

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

· “Bipolar and Related Disorders”

Marsee, K., & Gross, A. F. (2013). Bipolar disorder or something else? Current Psychiatry, 12(2), 43–49. Retrieved from http://www.mdedge.com/currentpsychiatry/article/66320/bipolar-disorder/bipolar-disorder-or-something-else

Miller, L. J., Ghadiali, N. Y., Larusso, E. M., Wahlen, K. J., Avni-Barron, O., Mittal, L., & Greene, J. A. (2015). Bipolar disorder in women. Health Care for Women International, 36(4), 475–498. doi:10.1080/07399332.2014.962138

Schouws, S. M., Comijs, H. C., Dols, A., Beekman, A. F., & Stek, M. L. (2016). Five-year follow-up of cognitive impairment in older adults with bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disorders, 18(2), 148–154. doi:10.1111/bdi.12374

Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A., & Ruiz, P. (2014). Kaplan & Sadock’s synopsis of psychiatry: Behavioral sciences/clinical psychiatry (11th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.

· Chapter 8, “Mood Disorders” (pp. 347–386)

Note: This is review from the Learning Resource in Week 2.

Gabbard, G. O. (2014). Gabbard’s treatment of psychiatric disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publications.

· Chapter 13, “Acute and Maintenance Treatment of Bipolar and Related Disorders”

Stahl, S. M. (2017). Prescriber’s Guide: Stahl’s Essential Psychopharmacology (6th ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
To access information on specific medications, click on The Prescriber’s Guide, 6th Ed. tab on the Stahl Online website and select the appropriate medication.

Ward, I. (2017). Pharmacologic options for bipolar disorder. Clinical Advisor, 20(3), 17–