A majority of bipolar cases were shown to be preceded by stimulant or antidepressant
Stimulant treatment causes patients to cycle through arousal and dysphoric states on a daily basis, and the symptoms of stimulant treatment for ADHD closely resemble those of bipolar disorder. Also, long-term administration of antidepressants in children show risk for the development of bipolar disorder.
In a 2003 study of seventy-nine juvenile bipolar patients, University of Louisville psychiatrist Rif El-Mallakh determined that forty-nine (62 percent) had been treated with a stimulant or an antidepressant prior to becoming manic. That same year, Papolos reported that 83 percent of the 195 bipolar children he studied had been diagnosed with some other psychiatric illness first, and that two-thirds had been exposed to an antidepressant. Finally, Gianni Faedda found that 84 percent of the children treated for bipolar disorder at the Luci Bini Mood Disorders Clinic in New York City between 1998 and 2000 had been previously exposed to psychiatric drugs. “Strikingly, in fewer than 10% [of the cases] was diagnosis of bipolar disorder considered initially,” Faedda wrote.
References
- Whitaker, Robert. (2010). Anatomy of an Epidemic Chapter 11 The Epidemic Spreads to Children (Epub p. 327). New York , NY: Crown Publishing.
Metadata
Type:🔴 Tags: Psychiatry / Pharmacology / Biology / Neuroscience / Biochemistry / Neurochemistry Status:☀️