Lithium, introduced in the late 1940’s, was the first “wonder drug” in psychiatry. It was the first medication treatment for the manic and depressive episodes of bipolar disorder and it remains among one of the most effective treatments for this disorder.
Relatively few children with rapidly shifting moods and high energy have bipolar disorder, though such symptoms are commonly associated with the disorder. Instead, most of these children have other types of mental disorders, according to an NIMH-funded study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
Veterans diagnosed with any psychiatric illness appear to have an elevated risk of suicide, and men with bipolar disorder and women with substance abuse disorders may have a particularly high risk, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. An estimated 90 percent to 98 […]
Cognitive dysfunction is clearly recognized in bipolar patients, but the degree of impairment varies due to methodological factors as well as heterogeneity in patient populations. Researchers set out to evaluate cognitive functioning in bipolar patients and to assess its association with depressive symptoms. In addition, the relationship between cognitive functioning abilities and lifetime alcohol use […]
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago are the first to use brain imaging to examine the effects of emotion on working memory function in children with pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). PBD and ADHD are very severe developmental disorders that share behavioral characteristics such as impulsivity, irritability, and […]
A new study from Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet suggests that bipolar disorder – or manic-depressive disorder – does not increase the risk of committing violent crime. Instead, the over-representation of individuals with bipolar disorder in violent crime statistics is almost entirely attributable to concurrent substance abuse.
Nearly half of patients hospitalized with bipolar disorder may suffer from hypertension, and the younger a person is diagnosed with the psychiatric condition the more likely they are to develop high blood pressure, according to a recent Michigan State University study. The study, led by MSU psychiatrist Dale D’Mello, analyzed 99 patients hospitalized for bipolar […]
A study from Rhode Island Hospital finds patients who were “over-diagnosed” with bipolar disorder were more likely to have received disability payments and for a longer period of time. The researchers propose a link between these unconfirmed cases of bipolar disorder and the receipt of the payments. Their study and findings are published in the […]
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