RELATION BETWEEN SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND BIPOLAR DISORDER

1. RELATION BETWEEN SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND BIPOLAR DISORDER Bipolar disorder is very common in modern times; reason varies from stress full life to loneliness in metro cities. Bipolar disorder is characterized by mood swings, although mood swings can be normal too in bipolar disorder there are severe mood swings in which a period of depression is followed by a highly elevated mood that lasts from a few days to a few weeks. In a severely elevated mood person is highly energetic, happy and makes a very impulsive decisions without thinking too much about consequences. During the depression period person is highly negative about life. Bipolar disorder sometimes results in a person suffering from it committing suicide. Almost 6% of cases result in suicide or self-harm in bipolar disorder. As far as causes of bipolar disorder are concerned, it is both genetic as well as environmental factors as well. Environmental factors also include child abuse or trauma in childhood. It can be the result of long term stress as well. There are many conditions in which symptoms overlap with bipolar disorder such as ADHD, Personality disorder and substance use disorder. Although many psychiatrists do not diagnose the condition as a bipolar disorder if the mood swings, period of depression then followed by a period of highly elevated mood, is due to substance abuse.

2. But there is a strong correlation between bipolar disorder and substance abuse. It goes in both ways. Like in a study around 60% of people having bipolar disorder does have a history of substance abuse or they indulge in substance abuse in future and many people who are addicted to some substance whether drug or alcohol develop bipolar disorder in future. Although it is yet to be understood why a person having bipolar disorder starts having drugs and people having drugs or alcohol develop bipolar disorder. Regular use of drugs can damage parts of the brain and at times they damage that part of the brain which controls mood and behavior so drugs can cause bipolar disorder. One reason for this co-occurrence is that the same factors contribute to both the conditions since bipolar disorder and substance abuse both are mental illnesses. Sometimes symptoms of bipolar disorder make a person consume drugs or alcohol as they can be used to prolong the period of mood elevation or downer and incased of a period of depression they are used as stimulants to elevate the mood or energy. The reverse is also true that if have bipolar disorder then substance abuse can prolong the period of depression or highly elevated mood. Athens has some world-renowned addiction medicine specialists, talking to much addiction medicine specialists in Athens; they unanimously shared a view that substance abuse illness is often co-existed with bipolar disorder. Even the bipolar disorder therapists in Athens share the same view. Most of the Addiction Medicine Specialists in Athens also believe that substance abuse can cause bipolar disorder and Bipolar Disorder Therapists in Athens believe that bipolar disorder can make a person do drugs and consume alcohol. So we can conclude that both go hand in hand and both co-exist in many cases and one can cause the other. It is the view shared by experts and even most of the research shows the same. Source Link: https://bit.ly/3hZh6wl Website: https://northrisepsychiatry.com/