Bipolar and Alcohol Abuse Does it Make You Drink More?

Eighty–two percent of patients stayed on naltrexone for at least 8 weeks, 11 percent discontinued the medication because of side effects, and the remaining 7 percent discontinued for other reasons. The authors concluded that naltrexone was useful in treating patients with comorbid psychiatric and alcohol problems. However, Sonne and Brady reported on two cases of bipolar women who received naltrexone for alcohol cravings, and both had significant side effects similar to those of opiate withdrawal.

• Drinking is known to worsen symptoms of depression and will eventually make mood swings more intense, causing them to drink even more to compensate.
• Depending on a person’s alcohol usage, medically supervised detox may required to treat withdrawal symptoms.
• It causes manic moods and depression, both of which can be debilitating and dangerous.

Seeing a mental health professional right away is especially important if you also have signs and symptoms of bipolar disorder or another mental health condition. Bipolar disorder represents a significant public health problem and often goes undiagnosed and untreated for long periods. In a survey of 500 individuals with bipolar disorder, 48% consulted 5 different health care professionals before receiving a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Thirty-five percent spent an average of 10 years between the onset of their illness and diagnosis and treatment. It can also impair one’s ability to function socially, occupationally or in some other important areas of life. This occurs in Bipolar II Disorder, a mood disorder that can range from mild to severe.

Bipolar I Disorder:

In conclusion, it appears that alcoholism may adversely affect the course and prognosis of bipolar disorder, leading to more frequent hospitalizations. In addition, patients with more treatment–resistant symptoms (i.e., rapid cycling, mixed mania) are more likely to have comorbid alcoholism than patients with less severe bipolar symptoms. If left untreated, alcohol dependence and withdrawal are likely to worsen mood symptoms, thereby forming a vicious cycle of alcohol use and mood instability. However, some data indicate that with effective treatment of mood symptoms, patients with bipolar disorder can have remission of their alcoholism.

Both tend to occur more frequently in people who have a family member with the condition. Some theorize that when AUD appears first, it can trigger bipolar disorder. Others have suggested that bipolar and AUD may share genetic risk factors.

How does alcohol affect bipolar disorder?

Lithium has been the standard treatment for bipolar disorder for several decades. Unfortunately, several studies have reported that substance abuse is a predictor of poor response of bipolar disorder to lithium. More specifically, as stated previously, compared to non–substance abusers, alcoholics appear to be at greater risk for developing mixed mania and rapid cycling. Researchers have found that patients with mixed mania respond less well to lithium than patients with the nonmixed form of the disorder (Prien et al. 1988). This suggests that lithium may not be the best choice for a substance–abusing bipolar patient. This suggests that lithium may be a good choice for adolescent substance abusers.

These episodes can last for a few days, a few weeks, or sometimes months. Bipolar mood swings are often unpredictable, which can create a lot of anxiety for the person who’s bipolar and the people closest to them. A period of mania or depression can be triggered by substantial life changes, hormonal shifts, grief, stress, medication, drug use, or excessive drinking2. Bipolar disorder, often called manic depression, is a mood disorder that is characterized by extreme fluctuations in mood from euphoria to severe depression, interspersed with periods of normal mood (i.e., euthymia). Bipolar disorder represents a significant public health problem, which often goes undiagnosed and untreated for lengthy periods. Bipolar disorder affects approximately 1 to 2 percent of the population and often starts in early adulthood.

The combination of bipolar disorder and AUD can have severe consequences if left untreated. People with both conditions are likely to have more severe symptoms of bipolar disorder. Some people drink to ease depression, anxiety and other symptoms of bipolar disorder.

Depressive symptoms and alcohol

Bipolar I Disorder- Characterized by severe mania that requires hospitalization lasting more than one week, and also severe depressed mood that lasts more than two weeks. Medical News Today has strict sourcing guidelines and draws only from peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical journals and associations. We link primary sources — including studies, scientific references, and statistics — within each article and also list them in the resources section at the bottom of our articles. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy. If people become disillusioned with their medications, some will stop using the drugs and consume alcohol as a form of self-medication. Some people use alcohol alongside their prescription drugs, adding to the risk.

This only complicates the situation and leads to what’s known as a dual diagnosis – a co-occurring disorder between bipolar and alcohol that can make recovery more challenging. Furthermore, alcohol use can worsen mixed mania symptoms, medications for treating alcohol dependence lead to rapid cycles of mania and depression, and overall worsen Bipolar Disorder treatment outcomes. Cyclothymic Disorder – A somewhat rare mood disorder where there are noticeable shifts in mood and manic and depressive episodes.

While bipolar disorder and substance use disorders were once diagnosed and treated as separate conditions, today a more integrated approach is used. Thus, there is growing evidence that the presence of a concomitant alcohol use disorder may adversely affect are alcoholism and drug addiction disabilities the course of bipolar disorder, and the order of onset of the two disorders has prognostic implications. The Alcohol First group was significantly older, had more education, and had a later age at onset of bipolar disorder than the other groups .

This may include a 12-step program or cognitive behavioral therapy. This upswing from depression is usually characterized by an intensely elated mood and hyperactivity. It commonly causes bad judgment and lowered inhibitions, which can lead to increased alcohol use or drug abuse. Manic episodes can lead to excessive drinking because of their increased risk-taking behavior. Medically assisted treatments for alcohol use disorder may be recommended.

Family Risk for Bipolar Disorder and Alcoholism

The researchers found that patients in the complicated group had a significantly earlier age of onset of bipolar disorder than the other groups. They also found that the complicated and secondary groups had higher rates of suicide attempts than did the primary group. Preisig and colleagues 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. If you’ve lost control over your drinking or you misuse drugs, get help before your problems become worse and harder to treat.

Given that there is only preliminary data on the use of naltrexone in bipolar alcoholics to date, naltrexone should be used with caution in patients who have been actively hypomanic. The role of genetic factors in psychiatric disorders has received much attention recently. Some evidence is available to support the possibility of familial transmission of both bipolar disorder and alcoholism (Merikangas and Gelernter 1990; Berrettini et al. 1997). Common genetic factors may play a role in the development of this comorbidity, but this relationship is complex (Tohen et al. 1998). Preisig and colleagues conducted a family study of mood disorders and alcoholism by evaluating 226 people with alcoholism with and without a mood disorder as well as family members of those people. The researchers found that there was a greater familial association between alcoholism and bipolar disorder (odds ratio of 14.5) than between alcoholism and unipolar depression (odds ratio of 1.7).

Although the total sample size was relatively large, particularly for a first-episode study, some subgroup analyses were based on relatively small numbers. This limitation was particularly true of contrasts of variables late in follow-up due to subject attrition. The patients were recruited from a single inpatient site and, as a consequence, may not generalize to other populations. Symptom ratings were primarily based on patient self-reports; therefore, the possibility of reporting bias or symptom minimization exists. Similarly, assessments of medication compliance were based on self-reports, rather than routine medication levels, introducing similar potential biases.

It often causes extreme reactions of happiness and excitement that can quickly deteriorate. The deterioration usually leads to overwhelming sadness and severe depression. Mania is another symptom of Bipolar I Disorder; often, the affected person cannot understand what is happening around them.

Scientists conducted a family study of mood disorders and alcohol dependence by evaluating 226 people with alcoholism with and without a mood disorder and the family members of those people. They discovered that there is a greater family relationship between alcoholism and bipolar disorder than between alcohol use alcohol addiction symptoms, abuse stats, withdrawal effects disorder and unipolar depression. Bipolar disorder and alcoholism can be a dangerous combination that often leads to more hospitalizations and an increase in mood swings. Because of the inherent dangers of having a co-occurring disorder, people with bipolar disorder and alcoholism need specialized treatment.

Findings such as these have implications for prevention and treatment. A positive family history of alcohol dependence or bipolar disorder is an important risk factor for offspring. Symptomatic recovery and recurrence of both conditions and percentage of follow-up with affective episodes and affective and alcohol-use disorder symptoms. Rapid Cycling is diagnosed when an individual has experienced four more occasions of mania, hypomania, and/or depressive episodes in one year. The person who suffers from Rapid Cycling will experience extremely high and low emotions and will often cause mood swings at random intervals. Rapid Cycling tends to come upon the individual unexpectedly and is then followed by a period of stabilization until the cycle begins again.

Some people are genetically predisposed to bipolar disorder and substance abuse disorder. The brain chemistry among these individuals affects how they process drugs and alcohol, information, and experiences. Battling both alcohol addiction and bipolar disorder can make someone more prone to manic and depressive episodes, violence, and self-harm. Bipolar disorder and alcohol use disorder or other types of substance abuse can be a dangerous combination.

In a 5–year followup study, Winokur and colleagues evaluated a group of bipolar patients with and without alcoholism. In the alcoholic patients, bipolar illness and alcoholism were categorized as being either primary or secondary. The patients with primary alcoholism had significantly fewer episodes of mood disorder at followup, which may suggest that these patients had a less severe form of bipolar illness. Bipolar disorder is defined by mood episodes that fluctuate between highs and lows.

A sense of frustration at still feeling out of control even while in treatment can cause a person to look for another way to relieve symptoms. Depression and bipolar disorders in patients with alcohol use disorders. Both valproate and alcohol consumption are known to cause temporary elevations in liver function tests, and in rare cases, fatal liver failure (Sussman and McLain 1979; Lieber and Leo 1992). Therefore, the safety of valproate in the alcoholic population has been questioned because of the potential for hepatotoxicity in patients who are already at risk for this complication.

If a person with undiagnosed bipolar disorder approaches a doctor with depression, the doctor may prescribe anti-depressants. If the person has bipolar disorder, the drugs can trigger a manic episode. These difficulties, the possible side effects of the drugs, and the features of bipolar disorder itself can make it hard for a person to keep to a treatment plan.

Although researchers have proposed explanations for the strong association between alcoholism and bipolar disorder, the exact relationship between these disorders is not well understood. One proposed explanation is that certain psychiatric disorders may be risk factors for substance use. Alternatively, symptoms of bipolar disorder may emerge during the course of chronic alcohol intoxication or withdrawal.