There were various stages that were involved in psychosocial development in the society. These stages began with the mild stage growing up into complex stages as a person grew in years. In reference to Newman and Philip (2008), these stages included Basic trust vs. Mistrust, Autonomy vs. Shame and doubt, Initiative vs. guilty, Industry vs. Inferiority, Identity vs. Role confusion, Intimacy vs. isolation, Generativity vs. stagnation and Ego integrity vs. despair (19). It should be noted that each of these stages of psychosocial development occurred at different stages of development in a person’s life. Therefore, they were named in this case just as they occurred from the time when a person was a child to the time when a person has fully matured into an adult.
Despite the fact that these stages of psychosocial development were very important in the society, it was important to understand that individuals in the society varied one from the other and as a result, one could be tied to a particular psychosocial group. As it was argued out by Newman and Philip (2008), there were numerous unique cases whereby people were able to function at different levels of psychosocial development other than the one that had been identified within their age group (24).
In addition, there were more psychosocial development stages that were added to the ones that were initially developed by Erikson. In reference to Newman and Philip (2008), it was necessary for more stages to be added to account for some stages that were not accounted for in the previous stages that had been developed by Erikson. Newman and Philip (2008) criticized the arguments that were put forward by Erikson in arguing for the stages of psychosocial development (22). First, they argued that despite the fact that Erikson used an even graph in representing various stages of development, the time period that these stages took in a person varied and therefore, using an even graph in representing these stages was somehow wrong and needed to be rectified (22). Secondly, they argued that there seemed to be no relationship between these stages whereas they overlapped from one stage to the other (22). Finally, the model that was presented by Erikson did not factor in the fact that as time went by, there were possibilities of new stages emerging since the society continued to evolve and thus psychological development was also expected to evolve.
As a result of these criticisms, Newman and Philip (2008) proposed three more stages to be added to the already existing stages of psychosocial development that had been proposed by Erikson (22). These authors believed that after adding three more stages of psychosocial development on what already existed, this would represent a more perfect development of human psychology as they grow up. Similarly, to eliminate many errors in their modified model, they assigned approximated age rather than using a fixed age group for each stage that was bound to change as human beings evolved over time.
Whereas the development of a model that comprised of different stages of development in psychosocial represented a near perfect way of examining the psychological development of a person in relation to his or her environment, there were different challenges that were found to be a stumbling block in this development. One of these challenges was bipolar disorder. As was defined earlier, bipolar disorder was concerned with changing moods in a person without any specific reason or rather extreme mood swings in a person (BBC 2008). This occurred as a result chemical imbalance in the brain of a person thus resulting in his or her inability to control certain processes in his or mind.
It was important to note that bipolar disorder was found to have a deep relationship in people that had blood relation. Whereas there are still more researches that were being carried out on how this disorder occurred in people, the already gathered evidence showed that bipolar disorder had a high probability of being a hereditary or generational disorder. This was as a result of the fact that it was more common among people who were related to each other by blood. Studies that were carried out in the past on people that were affected revealed that people that came from the same family were more likely to be affected by this disorder, more than those that did not. On the other hand, statistics showed that more and more people have been affected by this disorder with the United States having one of the highest records in the world that stood at 2 million people (Maj, Akiskal and López-Ibor 2).
There were a lot of effects that were identified in this research that bipolar disorder had on the community in general. To begin with, bipolar disorder affected the workforce in every region of the globe where this disorder was diagnosed. According to Maj, Akiskal and López-Ibor (2002), 43% of the people that were diagnosed with bipolar disorder were in the workforce (443). This means that, of the estimated 2 million people that were affected by bipolar disorder, nearly 800,000 of these were employed. This was a very large percentage in relation to the total number of people that had been employed. On the other hand, the medical costs that were involved in treating bipolar disorders were very high. This exerted pressure on the government, the individuals that had been affected and medical insurance firms. Similarly, the time wasted by these people while away on treated was enormous and there was no way one could recover this lost time (447).
It was important for one to note that there were different types of bipolar disorders that were identified in the society. In reference to the BBC (2008), these included Bipolar I, Bipolar II, Rapid cycling and Cyclothymia. Bipolar I was a type of bipolar disorder that was characterized by one having a minimum of one high, or rather manic episode that lasted for more than seven days. Whereas there were people who would only experience manic episodes, most people experienced depression periods. Bipolar II was characterized by one incident of severe depression yet with mild manic experiences. On the other hand, rapid cycling referred to a type of bipolar disorder that had more than four mood swings within a period of one year (BBC 2008). This type of bipolar disorders was diagnosed in 10% of the people with bipolar disorders. Finally, Cyclthymia had no bad moods swings. However, these mood swings were found to last for longer periods.
There were various ways of treatment of bipolar that were identified in the society. According to Jamison and Disease Control Priorities Project (2006), there were pharmacological treatments that were available to deal with bipolar disorder (125). There were however two main approaches that were identified and utilized in treating bipolar disorders in the medical fields. These methods included therapy and medication. The therapy that was administered to these patients required social support of the family and the mental health workers (Maj, Akiskal and López-Ibor 314).
There were various recommendations that were made in regard to psychosocial and bipolar disorder in the society. First, there was need for more research on psychosocial treatment of bipolar disorders in the society. According to Maj, Akiskal and López-Ibor (2002), there were no researches that had been done to detect early onset of bipolar disorders which was characterized by high rates of suicides (314). Similarly, there was need for research on treatment mediators and moderators of bipolar disorder.
There was also a need for the medical field and the government to work on increasing access to healthcare facilities by bipolar patients (Maj, Akiskal and López-Ibor 315). It was noted that most patients were unable to get slots for treatment since the psychosocial approach to treatment of bipolar disorder took a longer time thus denying new patients treatment chances. In line with this, there was need also for an increased research and studies in regard to prevention of bipolar disorders rather than relying on the treatment of this disorder alone.
In summary, the development of the psychological perspectives of a person was one of the important processes in the life of a person. Psychosocial development was therefore divided into various stages of development that were associated with certain characteristics that were perceived in a person. However, it was also important to note that there were disorders that hindered effective psychosocial development of people in the society. Among these hindrances was bipolar disorder. As was defined in this research paper, bipolar disorder was associated with mood swings in people.
There were various methods that were applied as treatment of bipolar disorders in individuals. However, a combination of medication and psychosocial therapy was identified as the most perfect way of treating this disorder. Despite of this treatment method, there was an increased need for further research in bipolar disorder treatment methods and how it could be prevented rather than relying on treatment alone. On the other hand, there arise need to increase medical facilities that offered bipolar treatment in order to increase access to medication by patients that had been affected by this disorder.