New Mobile App Helps Manage Bipolar Disorder

New Mobile App Helps Manage Bipolar Disorder

A unique mobile App has been developed for Bipolar Disorder sufferers called Bipolar Mood Monitor.
With up to 254 million people worldwide affected by Bipolar Disorder and annual social and financial costs in the USA alone of $45 billion, it is becoming more important for health providers to be able to track bipolar sufferers’ mood changes accurately and in a ‘real time’ situation.

Bipolar Mood Monitor helps track mood changes as they happen and records them in an easy-to-read chart format. The App also includes comment and alert functions and one-step email so charts and comments can be sent to nominated email addresses.

The user interface incorporates a graphic display which is simple and intuitive. Users can make entries with three easy steps in a matter of seconds and review details at any stage.

Currently anyone suffering from illnesses like Bipolar Disorder usually visit their doctor on a weekly or monthly basis. This can create problems when they are asked the inevitable question “How have you been feeling over the last month?”

At this point patients can usually only generalise on how they fared over that time.

Add to this the fact that busy doctors have less than 10 minutes on average to spend with a patient, with up to a third of their patients visiting due to mood disorders. Assessing how a patient was actually doing on a day-to-day basis becomes difficult in this situation.

Bipolar Mood Monitor allows accurate information to be emailed to a doctor (or the mobile device can be taken to an appointment for the doctor to access directly), graphically illustrating the mood status of the patient over specific time frames with accompanying comments, and also gives the bipolar sufferer some meaningful ‘buy-in’ to help manage their condition.
Some doctors may also see advantages in using Bipolar Mood Monitor as a facility for tracking other depressive disorders as well.

Bipolar Mood Monitor is designed for iPhone and iPod Touch and can be purchased at the iTunes App Store.

Below are some sobering facts about Bipolar Disorder:

2.4 - 4 million people in the UK have bipolar disorder.

5.8 -12 million people in the USA have bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder results in a 9.2 years reduction in natural expected lifespan (i.e. ignoring suicides).
Bipolar patients who have attempted suicide: > 25%. (Note: many suicide attempts are hidden).

Bipolar patients whose suicide attempts have been lethal: 15-20%. This is the highest suicide rate of any psychiatric disorder, and more than 20 times higher than the rate of suicide in the general population. About half of all suicides in the U.S. can be attributed to bipolar disorder.

Bipolar people who are not being treated at any given time: approximately 50%

Average age of onset: 23-25

Average age of correct diagnosis: 40

Average number of years it takes a bipolar person or their family to seek treatment from the onset of symptoms: 10

Number of bipolar sufferers who have been misdiagnosed at least once: 70-75%.

Rate of alcoholism in bipolar men: Three times higher than in the general population.

In bipolar women: Seven times higher than in the general population.

Divorce rates for people with bipolar: twice as high during their first marriage than for people with any other psychiatric disorder, and three and a half times more likely to divorce than people in the general population.

Bipolar Disorder affects males and females in similar numbers

About 70% of people with Bipolar Disorder will have a close relative (a parent or sibling) who suffers from either Bipolar Disorder or from depression.