Introduction
Despite the high prevalence of mental illness, the treatment of mental health remains dynamic, with new views developing psychiatric care will likely develop progressively individualized in the future. This research evaluates the present National Health Service (NHS) website for health information and provides improvements. As given on the NHS Health A-Z listing, the primary focus is on bipolar disorder. The proposed modifications include using psychedelic therapy, virtual reality technology in healthcare, applying Neuralink science to health management, and adopting a spiritual perspective. The proposals are sent to the Department of Health of the NHS for review.
The Validity and Practicality of Current NHS Information
Validity of Current NHS Information
The NHS defines bipolar disorder as a psychiatric condition characterized by significant mood swings. The NHS website describes the manifestations of bipolar disorder, including sadness, feeling, anger, and mania, which results in highly high hyperactivity. According to the NHS, bipolar illness is first diagnosed as depressive disorder preceding a manic episode. During a depressive episode, the patient has overwhelming emotions of unworthiness, which may lead to suicidal ideation.
During a manic phase of bipolar illness, according to the NHS, the patient may experience extreme happiness. Patients have great energy, grandiose ideas and goals, and a tendency to spend a disproportionate amount on activities they might not afford. The patient often views the manic episode of bipolar disorder as a pleasant experience and a time of great creativity. Regarding treatments for bipolar illness, the NHS recognizes that manic and depressive episodes are often so intense that they interfere with daily living. However, the website notes various effective treatment options for bipolar illness. Therapy aims to mitigate the consequences of an episode and let a person with bipolar illness lead everyday life as feasible. According to the NHS, the therapeutic options include mood stabilizers for preventing manic and depressive episodes. Long-term treatment for the significant symptoms of depression and mania requires daily medication administration.
The NHS advises a specialized examination for the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, in which the psychiatrist should present questions to determine whether the patient exhibits bipolar disorder symptoms. The psychiatrist would inquire about the patient’s feelings before and during a manic or depressive episode. The psychotherapist will be interested in the patient’s past medical history and genetic predisposition, particularly if any siblings have bipolar illness. The NHS suggests further tests that may reveal any medical condition, such as an underactive or hyperactive thyroid. The NHS recognizes in advance directives that patients may not be competent to make an educated choice about their treatment or convey their requirements, particularly if their conditions become acute. In such circumstances, the NHS suggests drafting a treatment choice in the form of written instructions.
The NHS provides scientifically sound findings derived from extensive studies. Bipolar illness is a biopsychosocial condition, and the suggested intervention suggests that successful customized therapy may aid in its management. The emotional state-altering drugs emerge as the cornerstone of NHS therapy. In pharmacology, these drugs are classified into three groups: lithium, antiepileptic agents, and antipsychotics of the second generation (Incecik et al., 2020). Experiments demonstrate that the processes by which these drugs exert their effects are diverse and include the elevation of serotonin, aminobutyric acid, and central nervous system neurotrophic factor. The NHS intervention suggestions are well-founded since the drug may aid in reducing glutamate levels, hence modifying dopamine connections and stabilizing neuronal membranes.
The NHS provides relevant provisions for bipolar disorder since the insights share scientific truths with most mental health literature. The National Health Service correlated bipolar disorder with a condition of temperament and social interaction issues that could be derived from bipolar disorder-related personality issues in mental health. The criteria recognize that an individual with a disorder would think, interpret, feel, and interact with others markedly differently from the ordinary individual. According to the NHS, the disease is characterized by emotional instability, altered patterns of thought, impaired judgment, and impulsive behavior (Gordovez & McMahon, 2020). According to the NHS, psychopathological symptoms may vary from minor to severe and often manifest in adolescence and last throughout adulthood.
The National Health Service admits that the etiology of bipolar-related mental health issues requires further clinical research. However, the NHS recognizes that bipolar disorder seems to be caused by a mix of hereditary and environmental factors, as is the case with other diseases. In psychiatry, bipolar disorder patients’ treatment comes from diverse origins, but most will have suffered trauma or maltreatment as children (Incecik et al., 2020). The website emphasizes that diagnosing bipolar disorder requires ruling out other more prevalent mental health problems, such as depression, and ensuring that there is no urgent threat to the patient’s well-being.
Regarding bipolar disorder therapy, the NHS adds that many patients might benefit from timely psychological and medical care that reflects their interpersonal needs. The medicine may consist of various individual and group psychological treatments administered by qualified experts working as part of a community mental wellness team. The therapy includes the management of mental health issues such as alcohol abuse, chronic anxiety, and disordered eating patterns such as anorexia. The NHS recognizes that other bipolar disorder-related personality disorders, such as antisocial disorder, must be carefully handled to prevent the recurrence of symptoms. The NHS reports that many individuals with mental health diseases improve from their symptoms over time. People whose symptoms reoccur are advised to undergo further therapy.
The NHS guidelines may be categorized as commonly acknowledged bipolar disorder treatment interventions, including dialectical behavior therapy and mentalization-based therapeutic support. In practice, dialectical behavior therapy combines group and individual treatment to educate the patient on how to control emotions, endure suffering, and strengthen relationships via a skills-based approach. Schema-focused treatment is used to assist in uncovering unmet requirements that have led to poor life patterns useful for survival at one point in the patient’s life but are now detrimental. The follow-up treatment is centered on assisting the patient in healthily meeting their needs to foster beneficial life patterns. According to the NHS, mentalization-based treatment is a kind of talk therapy that helps bipolar disorder patients in identifying their ideas and emotions to develop an alternative viewpoint on the issue.
The practicality of Current NHS Information
With the present health care system, several NHS mental health interventions for mental health situations are feasible. The findings are remarkably consistent with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-5).aSaM-5 presently classifies five forms of bipolar and associated disorders: bipolar 1, bipolar 2, cyclothymic disease, further defined bipolar and related abnormalities, and unexplained bipolar and similar ailments. Bipolar 1 and 2 are the most prevalent, with manic episodes being more pronounced in bipolar 1. Studies have shown that bipolar 1 and bipolar 2 syndromes have many characteristics, with the primary distinction being that bipolar 1 needs at least one manic episode. The NHS provides diagnosis and intervention positions that reflect the need for such dynamic nature of the disease, making the guidance practical in psychiatric care.
Similarly, both the NHS and the DSM-5 advocate screening people with bipolar illness suspicions. The protocols included guidelines for excluding other mental diseases or sources of symptoms and a complete evaluation of the patient, the patient’s family medical history, drug use history, living environment, and current caretakers or legal representatives. The NHS and DSM-5 both urge a comprehensive history of the sort of the first episode. The NHS emphasizes the primary polarity of sickness, the length of episodes, severity, and the period between episodes. DSM-5 requires the management of suicidal conduct, a background of violence, and the presence of fast cycle characteristics.
The NHS offers informed insights and recommends differential testing to rule out alternate causes, such as clinical depression, chronic anxiety, and posttraumatic stress syndrome. The NHS treats bipolar illness produced by managing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and antisocial behavior. Examining the appearance, emotions, thinking content, thinking processes, perception, cognition, and judgment is a crucial care intervention throughout the diagnostic process. The NHS provides standardized measures similar to the DSM-5 for evaluating bipolar disorder may aid the clinician in getting the specific data required for an evaluation.
The NHS recognizes the need for accurate data in examining nonpharmacologic and interpersonal therapeutic intervention recommendations for treating bipolar illness. According to the NHS, psychoeducation and counseling as a supplement to pharmaceuticals may be beneficial during the acute phase and maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder. Such approaches may minimize relapse risk and improve medication adherence. The NHS recognizes the social rhythm concept, psychosocial interventions, and rehabilitation programs as practical examples. Psychiatric care’s modern medical technology allows for such interventions.
Similarly, the NHS offers pharmaceutical recommendations for Manic, Hypomanic, and Mixed Episodes that are scientifically congruent with the DSM-5 criteria. In situations of severe manic episodes and dissociative symptoms, the American Psychiatric Association’s practice recommendations suggest initiating lithium plus an antipsychotic and valproate plus an antipsychotic. If a patient is unwilling to take oral drugs, the National Health Service recommends depot antipsychotics. In most cases, olanzapine, quetiapine, and aripiprazole were used to treat bipolar disorder. Such medications are available at the majority of healthcare institutions.
From the standpoint of pharmaceutical therapies, the NHS interventions for bipolar illness and BPD are practical and scientifically accurate. Current research supports antipsychotics olanzapine, quetiapine, and ziprasidone (Xia & Jayakumar, 2021). The NHS adds that the initial stage in treating patients with recurrent manic or hypomanic episodes is optimizing the continuing agent. Monitoring blood levels of agents such as lithium or valproate may lead to optimization. The HNS acknowledges that depending on the event’s intensity, antipsychotics and benzodiazepines may be added whenever required.
The NHS information assists in establishing the context of each visit by concentrating on occupational, social, familial, and health status changes. The NHS’s focus on providing drug tolerability and patient attitudes reflects patient-centered treatment requirements. The NHS stresses that people with mental illness must be aware of early indicators of mood shift and, if required, adapt their prescriptions since treatment methods must often be modified. The National Health Service facilitated the optimization of mood stabilizers with combination treatment for durable remission. Antidepressants may exacerbate the progression of the condition, and a meaningful trial of a mood stabilizer cannot be conducted in the presence of antidepressants.
The NHS suggests that, in the event of suicidal thoughts, the sufferer study up on where to get immediate mental health assistance. In the event of acute depression, victims are encouraged to call a primary care physician, a care coordinator, or the local mental health crisis team. The local NHS hotline for mental health emergencies is available on the website. According to the NHS, people may phone NHS 111 if unsure of what to do or if they cannot reach their local NHS mental health hotline. If the patient requires anonymity, the NHS suggests phoning the Samaritans on their toll-free number 116 123, which is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Recommended Changes
Despite the scientifically sound and practically applicable NHS regulations on bipolar disorder intervention, there may be places where adjustments are necessary to maximize the effect of the advice on mental health patients and their caregivers. The NHS webpages, for instance, make no mention of the developing science of psychedelics in the treatment of mental health disorders. The NHS should recognize an emerging narrative concerning using two atypical psychedelics and one classic psychedelic in managing bipolar illness. Emerging therapeutic frameworks have the potential to revolutionize the administration of mental health treatment.
Utilization of Psychedelic Treatment
Some medications, for instance, have been shown to modify the state of consciousness of patients, creating an alternate world that may be employed to alleviate their misery. According to studies, psychedelics have seen a rebirth in biology and medicine (Xia & Jayakumar, 2021). In the research, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is considered psychedelic. In the studies, stimulation of serotonin 2A transmitters in cortical regions induces distinctive effects, such as modifications in sense perception self-processing. As such, the intervention directly affects the patient’s awareness, which can be altered to generate a sense of an alternative reality that is preferable from the distressed patient’s perspective.
The emerging field of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy proposes a therapeutic approach in which a safely administered psychedelic experience is included in an ongoing psychotherapeutic practice. In one research, controlled studies using psilocybin demonstrate promise effectiveness, convenience, and adherence for treating major depression and bipolar disorder (Incecik et al., 2020). The work relies heavily on the 1943 discovery of LSD by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann (Gordovez & McMahon, 2020). The discovery sparked a global interest in the substance’s unique effects on the human mind and its potential medicinal applications and scientific significance. It is regarded as the prototypical psychedelic substance. Researchers have recently established that traditional psychedelics are connected with the production of mania, a crucial factor to consider when designing research and therapeutic procedures.
These insights should influence modifications to the NHS website that highlight how the science of consciousness and psychedelics might provide comfort to distressed patients. The investigations demonstrate that atypical psychedelics are diverse groups with overlapping subjective effects. Exploring the many neurobiological pathways that might perpetuate mania to enhance the patient’s quality of life. The psychedelic therapy treatments provide the first evidence of ketamine’s therapeutic benefit in bipolar depression (Xia & Jayakumar, 2021). The NHS must acknowledge that psychedelics have the potential to meet alignment and be integrated into more significant therapeutic usage. A well-considered clinical and legal environment will be essential for developing novel treatment settings and a possible paradigm change due to these drugs.
Using Virtual Reality Technology in Healthcare
Similarly, the NHS should investigate the science of VR and its influence on managing the mental health of people with bipolar disease. Virtual Reality Therapy (VRT), like traditional anxiety-treatment approaches, involves exposing individuals to their anxiety triggers in a supervised condition (Incecik et al., 2020). As with most treatments, VR-based patient management aims to train patients to react favorably to situations that trigger their specific fear. The intervention may assist individuals suffering from physiological stress related to the initial trauma that created their anxiety problem.
The immersive and interactive capabilities of VR provide various advantages over traditional treatments. For instance, virtual reality technology allows mental health professionals to create highly tailored treatment regimens based on the specific requirements of their patients. In offering patients more control over their exposure, the VRT has shown to be superior to traditional therapy procedures. From the patient’s viewpoint, VR experiences may be made to be very engaging, which is crucial for retaining a sensation of control even when anxiety triggers are experienced. The strategy incorporates modern science in electronics and internet technology and is accessible to most patients who may obtain the technology through the global technology marketplaces.
From experience, patients appreciate that VR mental health care intervention gives a drug-free technique for decreasing trauma-related anxiety. The NHS should understand that a well-designed VR treatment program can offer enhanced operational optimizations over conventional therapeutic intervention. The interactive power of VR provides a more interactive connection with the context of the situation resulting in more outstanding performance. Equally, unlike typical anxiety-therapy programs, VR applications permit patients to complete their therapy at home, which considerably boosts the long-term success of the support. Despite the promise of revolutionizing mental health care, the NHS should recognize that VR therapy will not replace traditional treatment approaches in all situations. However, the technology provides promising benefits over typical therapies.
Employing Neuralink Science in Health Management
Neuralink employees emphasize that cybernetics might expand, repair, and modify human skills. Researchers started inserting probes into the brains of paraplegic patients. The Neuralink technology provides comparable progress to technology with direct influence on the functioning of the neural network in the late 1990s to prove that signals might help them manipulate robot arms or computer cursors (Gordovez & McMahon, 2020). The firm is designed to build ultra-high frequency brain-machine interconnections to link humans and machines. The business is creating technology predicated on the notion that every emotion a person has felt in their life is simply basic electrical impulses.
The notion proposes a new method of controlling cognition as an electrical signal that may be produced. According to the Neuralink technology teams, the brain’s activity may be managed with electrical impulses inducing targeted desires inducing regulating the symptoms of mental health conditions such as bipolar disorder (Incecik et al., 2020). Neuralink management has planned further to improve such central nervous system interfacing to the point that one may be placed under an hour (Incecik et al., 2020). The NHS needs to acknowledge the influence of modifying the brain’s electrical signal using technology such as Neuralink to control bipolar disorder.
Adopting Spirituality for Religion among Patients
Finally, the NHS should understand the distinction between religion and spirituality in treating the mental health and perspective of reality among its patients. Today, conventional religious beliefs such as Christianity and Islam rely on a human being primarily from the outside looking subject of God anxious for redemption. But the conceptions of spirituality such as those in Hinduism and Buddhism emphases on people as superior beings with exclusive control over fate. The principles of spirituality support examining the power of drugs with the assumption that all the answers individuals seek are inside.
Meditation is emphasized in Hinduism and Buddhism as a cognitive control technique that might enhance the present viewpoint. Initially, the purpose of meditation was to improve comprehension of the holy and mystical elements of existence (Xia & Jayakumar, 2021). Meditation is being used for relaxation and stress reduction. Meditation is considered a kind of complementary mind-body treatment (Miller & Black, 2020). Meditation may induce a state of profound relaxation and a calm mind. During meditation, the patient is instructed to concentrate their attention and remove any disorganized thoughts that may be generating stress. The NHS should acknowledge that such processes have a tight relationship with the concept of the inner world and may result in improved physical and mental health.
Several researchers have acknowledged the advantages of meditation in enhancing patients’ quality of life with bipolar illness. Studies have shown, for instance, that meditation may provide mental health patients with a feeling of quiet, tranquility, and equilibrium, which can enhance both their emotional and physical health. Patients may use Buddhist teachings to relax and manage stress by redirecting their attention to something tranquil and maintaining their concentration on thoughts that provide a pleasant sensation and sense of security. The NHS should recognize that meditation may assist individuals with bipolar illness in learning to remain focused and maintain inner serenity.
Conclusion
The NHS collaborates with other organizations to provide mental health care across England. They may be charities, for-profit businesses, or non-profit organizations. They are referred to as service providers. Mental health has become the area of the NHS and social care that the public is most concerned about and wants to see better, with treatment delays and inadequate assistance for those in need being their primary worries. Although the NHS website provides substantial guidance on treating mental health conditions such as bipolar illness and bipolar disorder-related personality disorder, there may be a need to update the advice. The proposed modifications include using psychedelic therapy, virtual reality technology in healthcare, applying Neuralink science to health management, and adopting a spiritual perspective. Adequate care for bipolar illness may significantly enhance the mental health of victims.
References
Gordovez, F. J. A., & McMahon, F. J. (2020). The genetics of bipolar disorder. Molecular Psychiatry, 25(3), 544-559.
Miller, J. N., & Black, D. W. (2020). Bipolar disorder and suicide: a review. Current Psychiatry Reports, 22(2), 1-10.
Incecik, E., Taylor, R. W., Valentini, B., Hatch, S. L., Geddes, J. R., Cleare, A. J., & Marwood, L. (2020). Online mood monitoring in treatment-resistant depression: a qualitative study of patients’ perspectives in the NHS. BJPsych Bulletin, 44(2), 47-52.
Xia, G., & Jayakumar, A. (2021). Prevalence, associated factors and prevention of burnout in psychiatry trainees in Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust. BJPsych Open, 7(S1), S61-S61.