PsyDactic

Bipolar disorder is a complex, often debilitating and potentially life threatening illness in which the patient goes from episodes of depression to episodes of mania or hypomania, most often with periods of relative euthymia in between these episodes. The most common way to conceptualize the treatment of bipolar disorder is by phase. The ideal goal would be preventing the distinct manic and depressive episodes. This is done mostly with medications although psychotherapy, lifestyle modifications and even neuromodulation potentially have a role. A particularly difficult aspect of bipolar disorder is treating the acute phase of bipolar depression. Each is treated mostly with psychotropic medication. In this Episode, Dr. DePietro will focus on treating acute bipolar depression.

Please leave feedback at https://www.psydactic.com or send any comments to [email protected].
References and readings (when available) are posted at the end of each episode transcript, located at psydactic.buzzsprout.com. All opinions expressed in this podcast are exclusively those of the person speaking and should not be confused with the opinions of anyone else. We reserve the right to be wrong. Nothing in this podcast should be treated as individual medical advice.

In previous episodes I have tried to draw pictures in your mind (using those fat crayons that babies like to chew on) of some of the brain networks that are important in many mental illnesses. We have talked specifically about the Default Mode Network (that is concerned with imaginal thoughts and self-referential thoughts and memories), the Dorsal and Ventral Attention Networks (that help us to identify and pick out details of both our environment and our thoughts and memories), and the Salience Network (that brings the most important details of our perceptions, thoughts, and memories to the forefront of our mind). What we are missing is a network that takes those salient things, considers alternative options about what they mean and what to do about them, organizes a plan to execute, and motivates us to move. Our Central Executive Network and its connections to the other networks are integral in these processes.

Please leave feedback at https://www.psydactic.com or send any comments to [email protected].
References and readings (when available) are posted at the end of each episode transcript, located at psydactic.buzzsprout.com. All opinions expressed in this podcast are exclusively those of the person speaking and should not be confused with the opinions of anyone else. We reserve the right to be wrong. Nothing in this podcast should be treated as individual medical advice.

What is salience? Fundamentally it is a value judgment that determines where your brain will place its limited resources. There are a lot of things that could draw our attention. The world is full of sights, sounds, smells, pressures, temperatures, stretches. Our mind is full of thoughts. Without a salience network, we wouldn’t know what matters and what doesn’t. We would just randomly scan our thoughts and the environment and hope what we are noticing at any point in time is what will help keep us alive. That is a losing evolutionary strategy.

Please leave feedback at https://www.psydactic.com or send any comments to [email protected].
References and readings (when available) are posted at the end of each episode transcript, located at psydactic.buzzsprout.com. All opinions expressed in this podcast are exclusively those of the person speaking and should not be confused with the opinions of anyone else. We reserve the right to be wrong. Nothing in this podcast should be treated as individual medical advice.

Today, I am going to explore the Attention Networks, which are the parts of our brain that get really excited when, for example, we see something that we have never seen before, something that appears to be moving on its own volition (and might harm us), something that appears out of place (like an eyeball on the floor), or something that reminds us of something we really want (I’ll let you pick the example).

Please leave feedback at https://www.psydactic.com or send any comments to [email protected].
References and readings (when available) are posted at the end of each episode transcript, located at psydactic.buzzsprout.com. All opinions expressed in this podcast are exclusively those of the person speaking and should not be confused with the opinions of anyone else. We reserve the right to be wrong. Nothing in this podcast should be treated as individual medical advice.

I originally promised a review of the Bush Francis Catatonia Rating Scale, but while reviewing it, I came across some questions that I think are even more interesting. I will discuss Bush Francis, but I want to do it in a larger context of the challenges that Psychiatrists face with diagnosis in general.

Please leave feedback at https://www.psydactic.com or send any comments to [email protected].
References and readings (when available) are posted at the end of each episode transcript, located at psydactic.buzzsprout.com. All opinions expressed in this podcast are exclusively those of the person speaking and should not be confused with the opinions of anyone else. We reserve the right to be wrong. Nothing in this podcast should be treated as individual medical advice.