Permission is granted to print and distribute this excerpt for noncommercial use as long as the above source is included. The information in this article is meant to educate and should not be used as an alternative for professional medical care. Drug and alcohol use also usually starts during the teenage years, sometimes even earlier. It is not yet known whether these individuals abuse drugs as a result of their bipolar illness, or have bipolar-like symptoms as a result of their drug use. There is some pretty compelling evidence that the former, rather than the latter, is usually the case.
Substance abuse can complicate diagnosis and treatment.
In the past, the conventional wisdom was that the alcoholic or drug addict had to be clean and sober before psychiatric treatment could succeed, but current clinical experience indicates that it's essential to treat the underlying bipolar disorder along with the substance abuse problem. In fact, mood stabilization may be a very necessary part of substance-abuse treatment for this population. Medication and therapy can greatly reduce the relapse rate. Many people with bipolar disorder have other psychiatric or medical problems to contend with, a fact that can complicate their treatment and even contribute to mood swings. Several neurological and physical problems occur more often in people with bipolar disorder than in the general population.