Subject: {FIRSTNAME},Why So Many Struggle With Treatment Hello {FIRSTNAME}, Last time we learned about why should i get help anyway? This time we will learn about why so many struggle with treatment. Part 3 -------------------------------------------------- Although medication and psychotherapy are methods for dealing with bipolar disorder, many times individuals simply will not take them. They stop. They give up. They simply can not stand the entire process of fighting their bodies and minds. They just give up. As you can probably imagine, this is simply not the best route for you to take when it comes to caring for your condition. Yet, a vast number of bipolar disorder patients will experience this feeling at some time or another. Why is that? Those that take antipsychotic medications and mood stabilizers are often the types of medications with the most side effects and therefore the most commonly stopped by the patient. Yet, those that just stop taking these medications against their doctor’s recommendations often face a huge problem. They relapse in their symptoms. They are often hospitalized. They end up homeless, victims, and even are more commonly involved in various types of crime. Either in jail or in a hospital, those that do not have the medications they need end up in trouble. When a patient stops taking their medication, this is called noncompliance or sometimes it is called nonadherence. It is not just those that suffer from bipolar disorder and take these medications that face this problem. In fact, those that are told they need to take medications for long periods of time often go through a bout of not wanting to do so any longer. Those that suffer from epilepsy, hypertension and even asthma often face this feeling of wanting to stop the medications. One thing to understand is that you don’t have to stop taking all of your medications to face a problem. Some individuals only stop taking some of them; perhaps those that they still have pills available for, and stop others. Partial noncompliance is just as problematic as those that face cutting off all medications all together. Nevertheless, this doesn’t answer our question of why this happens. Unfortunately, there are a number of different reasons why it will happen. The first and most common reason that this happens is simply because patients don’t understand the illness that they are up against. In fact, some 10 out of 14 patients will stop taking medications because they don’t realize just how important they are to their illness. Many patients, up to 80 percent, will take medications only because their doctor’s tell them to. Many don’t realize why they need to take the medications that they do, but simply do so because their doctor tells them to. Because people do this, it is hard to understand just how aware they are of their illness. One of the most important things that you can do, then, is to truly understand your condition. If your loved one has bipolar disorder, then help them to stay informed about their condition. It is essential that you provide this information because without it, they may not realize the importance of taking those pills each day. With this education, though, protection can be significant from these problems. For more information about bipolar disorder, please refer to my website Take Care,