Bipolar Disorder and Addiction: Link, Risk Factors, and Treatment
All summary statistics (eTable 1 in Supplement 1), between-person and within-person zero-order correlations (eFigure 2 in Supplement 1), model fit indices (eTable 2 in Supplement 1), and unconditional model results (eTables 3-9 in Supplement 1) are provided in Supplement 1. Demographic statistics for the entire cohort are available elsewhere.22 Herein we report the results from the conditional models, including planned covariates. This was true for individuals with both of the most common forms of the condition, called bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder, although it was even more pronounced in individuals with bipolar II disorder. In 2011, researchers noted that alcohol misuse can result in a misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder. The effects of bipolar disorder vary between individuals and also according to the phase of the disorder that the person is experiencing. Read on to find out more about the links between bipolar disorder and alcohol consumption.
- However, alcohol can make these feelings and other symptoms worse over time, perpetuating the cycle of alcohol consumption and depression.
- Research into the effects of certain substances on mood episodes in people with bipolar disorder is ongoing.
- A mental health professional with experience in dual diagnosis can provide a comprehensive evaluation and develop a tailored treatment plan that addresses both conditions.
- Your doctor may also conduct a medical exam to rule out the possibility of other underlying conditions.
- If you have depression and drink too much alcohol, then you may be wondering if there are any treatments or lifestyle changes for someone in your situation.
Things to Know About Bipolar Disorder and Alcohol Use
There is also evidence to Review of Answer House Sober Living suggest that these subtypes of bipolar disorder have different responses to medications (Prien et al. 1988), which would help provide a rationale for the choice of agents in the alcoholic bipolar patient. Available research on the use of lithium, valproate, and naltrexone for comorbid patients is reviewed below. Fortunately, there are numerous resources available for individuals dealing with both bipolar disorder and alcohol use issues. Understanding bipolar dual diagnosis is the first step towards effective treatment.
Alcohol and mood stabilizers, for instance, can lead to increased sedation, impaired cognitive function, and reduced effectiveness of the medication. Researchers believe a potential cause for the high rate of SUDs in people with bipolar disorder is self-medicating to treat symptoms of mania and depression. A substance use disorder (SUD) is more than drinking socially or using drugs sometimes. An SUD is actually a mental health condition that impairs a person’s ability to control their substance use. People with bipolar disorder and a co-occurring SUD frequently experience worsened effects of each. This may include more frequent and longer manic or depressive episodes, lower quality of life, and a higher chance of relapse (using substances again after quitting them).
Other theories suggest that people with bipolar disorder use alcohol in an attempt to manage their symptoms, especially when they experience manic episodes. About 45 percent of people with bipolar disorder also have alcohol use disorder (AUD), according to a 2013 review. Understanding this relationship is crucial for both individuals with bipolar disorder and their loved ones. It’s important to recognize that alcohol use can significantly complicate the course of bipolar disorder, interfering with treatment efficacy and potentially leading to more severe symptoms and poorer outcomes.
This article covers everything you need to know about the connection between alcohol and depression.
Mania symptoms and alcohol
Your doctor could refer you to a mental health professional who can customize your treatment plan to your needs. According to SAMHSA, people with bipolar disorder may misuse substances for a number of reasons, including because both disorders change brain areas important in regulating impulsivity and feelings of reward and pleasure. SAMHSA reports that people with bipolar disorder tend to have a higher risk for substance use disorders.
Examining these dynamics can inform the mechanisms of how alcohol use plays a role in poorer outcomes in BD, when to intervene, and whether alcohol use affects mood symptoms even at subclinical levels. As a general rule, it seems appropriate to diagnose bipolar disorder if the symptoms clearly occur before the onset of the alcoholism or if they persist during periods of sustained abstinence. The adequate amount of abstinence for diagnostic purposes has not been clearly defined. Family history and severity of symptoms should also factor into diagnostic considerations. Given that bipolar disorder and substance abuse co-occur so frequently, it also makes sense to screen for substance abuse in people seeking treatment for bipolar disorder.
However, certain functions, such as visuospatial abilities, may remain persistenly impaired even after longer periods of abstinence (Bernardin et al., 2014). Therefore, several memory rehabilitation strategies have been developed, although the field is still in its infancy (Svanberg and Evans, 2013). Depending on which you choose, NIMH reports you can learn new skills that encourage health-promoting choices such as coping with self-destructive thoughts and other alternatives in managing intense emotions. A, Dashed lines represent noncredible differences (95% credible interval CrI contains 0), and solid lines represent credible differences (95% CrI does not include 0).
You may be more likely to experience manic symptoms when you’re actively using a stimulating substance or engaging in prescription medication misuse. You may find yourself needing less sleep, becoming easily distracted, or even acting out in ways that can have social, work, relationship, sexual, or legal consequences. The rate of substance use disorder keeps rising with about 9.9% of adults becoming diagnosed with drug use at some point in their lifetime, according to the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.
Alcohol and Depression: Understanding the Connection
If you’ve lost control over your drinking or you misuse drugs, get help before your problems get worse and are harder to treat. Seeing a mental health professional right away is very important if you also have symptoms of bipolar disorder or another mental health condition. The potential relevance of systems medicine for AUD (Spanagel et al., 2013; Gorini et al., 2014) and BD (Frangou, 2014; McIntyre et al., 2014) has been recently proposed. We agree with McIntyre et al. (2014) that this approach may be particularly relevant for BD with comorbid conditions.
Disorders
Existing research indicates that depression can cause alcohol overuse, and alcohol overuse can cause depression. On the other hand, both conditions also share certain risk factors, such as genetics and social isolation. Having either depression or alcohol use disorder increases your risk of developing the other condition.