About.com

The Banker, the Judge and the Shouter

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:41:51 +0000

The update is to the second story, about the judge.

The Banker:
Here's a headline I really hated: "Bipolar banker blows millions, gets jail time." The actual point of the story was that this guy who lost millions of Euros for his Austrian bank and its customers got a reduced sentence because his having BP constituted "extenuating circumstances." He was sentenced to three years in prison but only has to serve one.

The critical unanswered question is, when was he diagnosed? The case, to me, is quite different based on the answer. If it was before all this started, and the bipolar affected his behavior - I'd need to know a lot more about the circumstances. Was he off his meds? Was he avoiding his doctor? Was his doctor incompetent? (I'm also wondering why an embezzler got only three years in the first place.)

The Banker, the Judge and the Shouter originally appeared on About.com Bipolar Disorder on Monday, May 20th, 2013 at 16:41:51.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Studying a Link Between Stress and Bipolar Disorder

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:10:30 +0000

A newly published study says that having a bipolar parent increases the everyday level of a key stress hormone. This might seem like a no-brainer, but in fact the study results are more interesting than that. For one thing, they weren't looking at young children, but at offspring between the ages of 14 and 28, so many of the study participants were not actually living with the bipolar parent any more - yet the stress effect continued.

"Previous research has shown that children of parents with bipolar disorder are four times as likely to develop mood disorders as those from parents without the condition," said the senior author Dr. Mark Ellenbogen. "The goal of our study was to determine how this is happening."

They already knew that high levels of the stress hormone cortisol often occur in people who later develop bipolar disorder - and that high stress levels can contribute to developing BP. What they found out in this study is that people with a bipolar parent react to both low-level and high-level stress by producing more cortisol than those with the same stress level but no bipolar parent.

Here's an illustration: Megan, age 22, has a parent with bipolar disorder. Her best friend Laura, also 22, does not. One day the two of them have a terrible fight and their stress levels go sky-high. But Megan's body produces a lot more cortisol than Laura's does. And no matter how much stress there is on a given day, any stress will consistently produce more cortisol in Megan than in Laura. Because both high cortisol levels and high stress can contribute to the development of bipolar disorder, Megan's risk of becoming bipolar is higher than Laura's.

You might say hey, we already knew that, because we know children of parents with BP are much more likely to get BP themselves. But the point is, we now have a biological mechanism that could be part of the reason they're more likely to develop bipolar disorder. These results, said Dr. Ellenbogen, might lead to finding ways to prevent the increased sensitivity from developing.

His conclusion suggests that if Megan had learned better ways to cope with stress early in life, it could make it less likely that she'd go on to develop BP. Now wouldn't that be awesome!

Sources:
C. S. Ostiguy, Ellenbogen M. A., Walker C.-D., Walker E. F., Hodgins S. Sensitivity to stress among the offspring of parents with bipolar disorder: a study of daytime cortisol levels Psychological Medicine. Published online 2011.
Pederson, Traci. Children of Bipolar Parents Have Highly Reactive Stress Hormone. PsychCentral.com. May 6, 2011.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Learn more or join the conversation!
_{NEWSLETTER |
FORUM |
BIO | FACEBOOK | TWITTER}
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Studying a Link Between Stress and Bipolar Disorder originally appeared on About.com Bipolar Disorder on Monday, May 13th, 2013 at 16:10:30.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Talking About Mental Illness and Disability Can Be Tough

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:49:12 +0000

For people who can't work because of their bipolar disorder, Social Security Disability payments can make an enormous difference. Though the application process isn't easy, and getting approval can take a long time...

About.com

The Banker, the Judge and the Shouter

Studying a Link Between Stress and Bipolar Disorder

Talking About Mental Illness and Disability Can Be Tough

Andalucia - Balancing Bipolar

Jane's Shorn Head

Unexpected Messenger

Myths About Bipolar Disorder

Study Looks at Metformin and Atypical Antipsychotics

Is It Bipolar Disorder or Schizophrenia?

Depression in a Picture - "Tetchy Tree"

Can the Eyes Predict Bipolar Disorder?

Help - Family Won't Understand

Thoughts on a Peter Breggin Blog

Religion in Bipolar Disorder - Big Positives, Big Negatives

Are Your Religious Beliefs Affected by Mania?

An Image of Depression

Getting to Know Lamictal and Lamotrigine

That's Typical... Antipsychotics

Vivid Dreams, Nightmares, Night Terrors and Bipolar Disorder

In a Mixed State

Coping Strategies for Panic Attacks in Bipolar Disorder

Acting Depressed Can Worsen Depression

Is Paranoia Part of Bipolar Disorder?

Just DON'T Say These 10 Things to Someone With Bipolar

DSM-IV gives way to DSM-5 - Why Should You Care?