Bipolar disorder comorbid with alcohol use disorder: focus on neurocognitive correlates
Cyclothymia is a disorder in the bipolar spectrum that is characterized by frequent low-level mood fluctuations that range from hypomania to low-level depression, with symptoms existing for at least 2 years (American Psychiatric Association APA 1994). Integrated treatment can occur either at the programmatic level or at the individual or group patient level. In the programmatic level, as exemplified by the work of Farren et al. (Farren and McElroy, 2008, 2010; Farren et al., 2010), patients enter a comprehensive integrated treatment programme that focuses on both psychiatric illness and substance use disorders. This series of studies on bipolar subjects with alcohol dependence examined the response to an inpatient integrated four-week psychoeducational programme with appropriate individualised pharmacotherapy. The programme consisted of specifically developed relapse prevention group therapy, individualised interpersonal therapy, with psychoeducational video and group sessions, together with self-help groups including Alcoholics Anonymous, and Dual Recovery Anonymous.
Bipolar disorder affects around 4.4 percent of people in the United States at some time in their lives. BD is a highly genetic disorder, with a family history in about 80% of patients. Alcohol consumption can lead to feelings of depression due to chemical reactions. In the short term, drinking alcohol can make you feel good, sociable, and even euphoric.
Understanding the Complex Relationship between Bipolar Disorder and Alcohol
As a result, they suggest that clinics should use a standardized measurement tool such as the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test, or AUDIT, to gauge alcohol use patterns at any level over time, and guide conversations between patients and providers. A person who is avoiding or cutting down on alcohol may find it helpful to replace the habit with an alternative feel-good solution . A person may need to work with their doctor for some time before they find a suitable medication and dose. If a person uses valproic acid with alcohol, this may put extra strain on the liver, increasing the risk of liver disease.
- Alcohol can trigger manic episodes in individuals with bipolar disorder, leading to increased risk-taking behavior, impulsivity, and poor decision-making.
- To that end, detailed and serial neuropsychological evaluations during this critical period remain as a backbone.
- Therapy and other treatment strategies are important in managing bipolar disorder, but so is medication.
- Bipolar disorder is a chronic mental health condition characterized by shifts in mood.
- If you have bipolar disorder and alcohol use disorder or another addiction, you have what’s known as a dual diagnosis.
- Sperry and her colleagues are preparing to study this and other aspects of brain activity using EEG, or electroencephalogram, as well as mobile and wearable technologies to measure real-world behaviors.
How Long Does Alcohol-Induced Depression Last?
Specifically, systems biology provides an exciting opportunity to better understand the BD-AUD comorbidity at different levels. Unraveling the genes and proteins involved in the vulnerability to BD-AUD is relevant to inform on the subserving molecular and cellular mechanisms and to identify novel treatments and molecules for the management of this comorbidity. This is clearly relevant since many dual BD patients may receive suboptimal treatments. This approach may also prove fruitful to refine current nosology of dual diagnosis based on more biologically informed grounds (Frangou, 2014). In sum, the bipolar-addiction comorbidity may benefit from the application of holistic approaches, such as staging and systems biology. Because little research has evaluated integrated treatments for alcohol use and BD,6,39 it is unclear what kind of alcohol use treatment would be most helpful in BD.
Preisig and colleagues (2001) also reported that the onset of bipolar disorder tended to precede that of alcoholism. They concluded that this finding is in accordance with results of clinical studies that suggest alcoholism is often a complication of bipolar disorder rather than a risk factor for it. For now, the key message about alcohol use for people with bipolar disorder seems to be to keep things consistent over time — just like clinicians advise them to do with sleep schedules, medication schedules and eating patterns. Contrary to the self-medication hypothesis, there was no evidence that having increased mood symptoms predicted lasting changes in alcohol use over the following six months.”
Contact us to learn more about our renowned program and how we can selghe, Author at Sober-home help you or your loved one start the journey toward recovery. Treatment for substance use disorder is most effective when all your needs are addressed. This includes many factors, but most importantly it means that you must be treated for both bipolar disorder and alcohol use disorder. One of the most pressing questions for individuals with bipolar disorder and their loved ones is whether alcohol makes bipolar disorder worse. The short answer is yes, alcohol can significantly exacerbate bipolar symptoms and interfere with treatment efficacy. Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder that can have wide-ranging quality of life and health impacts.
Mania symptoms and alcohol
People with an SUD may go through periods when they don’t feel or seem like themselves. In addition to behavioral changes from the effects of the substance, psychological and physical dependence on a substance can impair someone’s judgment and decision making skills. Some substances, like alcohol and opioids, have a sedative (depressant) effect, while other substances, such as cocaine and meth, have a stimulant effect. Cannabis has sedative, stimulant, and hallucinogenic properties, depending on its components. People with bipolar disorder and cannabis use disorder are also more likely to attempt suicide than those without an SUD. Neuroscience News is an online science magazine offering free to read research articles about neuroscience, neurology, psychology, artificial intelligence, neurotechnology, robotics, deep learning, neurosurgery, mental health and more.
While bipolar disorder can raise your risk of substance use or misuse, co-treatment options and other support are available. For instance, the brains of people with bipolar disorder may be more sensitive to disruptions in communications that alcohol can cause, and slower to recover from those impacts. Sperry and her colleagues are preparing to study this and other aspects of brain activity using EEG, or electroencephalogram, as well as mobile and wearable technologies to measure real-world behaviors.
The person may experience hallucinations, or they may believe that they are very important, that they are above the law, or that no harm can come to them, whatever they do. In BD, there is an equal incidence of men and women, emphasising the genetic origin of the disorder. In AUD, while there is a higher incidence in men, the genetic component may be more prominent in women (Kendler et al., 1992). There are neurochemical abnormalities in both disorders in the serotonin/dopamine pathways, which could suggest a similar pathology in both disorders (Yasseen et al., 2010). Researchers agree that alcohol and depression have a bidirectional relationship, meaning that depression can cause overuse of alcohol, but overuse of alcohol can also cause depression.