Alcohol use in people living with bipolar disorder (BD) triggers mood instability (depression and manic symptoms), says a study by scientists at the University of Michigan.

In the study, Dr Sarah Sperry and her colleagues characterised the longitudinal alcohol use patterns in BD and examined the temporal associations among alcohol use, mood, anxiety and functioning over time.

Bipolar is a mental illness that causes unusual shifts in mood, ranging from extreme highs (mania or manic episodes) to lows (depression or depressive episodes). BD I- involves having a history of at least one manic episode, but sometimes also having depressed or hypomanic episodes.

BD II involves mood states that vary from an even mood to high to low, but the highs are less extreme — hypomanic states. The third type of BD is cyclothymic disorder, which has more chronic mood instability (both highs and lows) that are not as long, severe, or frequent as those experienced in bipolar I or II disorder.

Read: How mental health of mothers is affecting generations

Symptoms

Manic symptoms may include euphoria or irritability, increased activity or energy and other symptoms such as increased talkativeness, racing thoughts, increased need for sleep, distractibility and impulsive reckless behaviour.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) explains people are at a higher risk if they have a family history of bipolar disorder, experienced a traumatic event, and/or misused drugs or alcohol.

“Differences in brain structure and function may also play a role,” states WHO.

The scientists say their findings included data from 584 participants, with subjects having BD type I (76.2 percent) or BD type II (23.8 percent).
The researchers first observed that more problematic alcohol use was associated with worse depressive and manic or hypomanic symptoms as well as lower workplace functioning over the first six months.

They also found out that increased depressive and manic or hypomanic symptoms were not associated with greater subsequent alcohol use. This means that associations were more pronounced in BD type II compared to BD type I while over time, alcohol use was not associated with anxiety.

“Findings of this study suggest there is an association of alcohol use with mood and work functioning, highlighting the importance of dimensional and longitudinal assessment and management of alcohol use, which should be integrated into research and standard treatment of BD,” they concluded.

As per WHO, in 2019, 40 million people around the world experienced bipolar disorder (1).