Teens With Bipolar Disorder At Higher Risk Of Drugs, Alcohol Abuse Later In Life

The researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital found bipolar teens are at risk of having substance abuse such as alcohol and drugs by the time they reach adulthood. Bipolar disorder, which is also referred to as manic-depressive illness is a mental disorder marked by shifting of moods from overexcited to the depressive state.

The study was printed in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry and involved more than 100 teenagers, who had bipolar disorders and 98 without the disorder and considered as the control group. The average age of the participants was 14 years at the time they enrolled in the study, according to Medical Xpress.

The results showed 34 percent of the young bipolar teens had drug or alcohol abuse and only 4 percent in the control group had substance abuse. The team also discovered that nearly one-quarter of bipolar teens smoked the cigarette and 4 percent in the control group.

After five years, the researcher followed up 68 of the bipolar patients and 81 of teens in the control group. They found that nearly half of the bipolar teens had substance use disorder and 26 percent of those without bipolar had drug or alcohol problems. The study indicated that risk was greater for people with continued bipolar symptoms.

Dr. Timothy Wilens, the lead author of the study and the chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at Mass General Hospital for Children in Boston said that bipolar disorder symptoms occur before the children start using cigarettes, drugs or alcohol. He further said that health-care professionals who treat children diagnosed with bipolar disorder must look for signs of substance abuse or cigarette smoking, as noted by UPI.

The study also linked bipolar disorder with conduct disorder, which is characterized by impulsive and criminal behavior. They found that when both disorders were combined there was the even greater risk of alcohol, drug and alcohol abuse. Dr. Wilens said that it is possible that the conduct disorder is at the root of alcohol and drug use as bipolar teens become young adults.