Bipolar Teens Are Most Likely To Abuse Harmful Substances

As every parent of a manically depressed teen can attest, Bipolar Disorder is a condition that can significantly damage the life of a teenage boy or girl. Now, a recent study coming out of the state of Massachusetts provides additional motivation to parents of bipolar teens – who have yet to find a treatment solution for their teen’s often erratic, volatile and mood-swinging condition – to seek treatment for their mentally ill child. According to these researchers, bipolar teens are much more likely to develop a substance abuse and/or nicotine addiction than teens who do not suffer from the severe mental illness.

A behavioral research team from Massachusetts General Hospital conducted a five-year-long study that included a total number of 100 bipolar teenagers. After five years of their initial interview, however, the research team was only able to track down 68 of the original volunteers.

After re-interviewing the remaining 68 volunteers – who had since become young adults – the researchers concluded that those who had bipolar were at a much higher risk of developing a substance addiction problem than the controlled group – an additional group of 100 teens who did not register as bipolar – that they initially interviewed five years prior. The Massachusetts researchers were surprised to find out that the group of bipolar teens had a 49% of developing a substance abuse disorder almost double than that of the controlled group who still boasted a rather high 26% chance.

While these findings seem to be staggering, the research team was not yet finished with their eye-opening, scientific revelations.

“We also made another interesting finding — that those originally diagnosed with bipolar disorder who continued to have symptoms five years later were at an even higher risk for cigarette smoking and substance use disorder than those whose symptoms were reduced either because of remission from bipolar disorder or from treatment,” said lead author of both studies Dr. Timothy Wilens, Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Mass.