From pole to pole: Treating bipolar disorder

We’re digging out some of the gems from our Up Close archives.

Psychiatrist Professor Allan Young discusses the problems of inaccurate mental illness diagnoses and urges a focus on early diagnosis to help patients come to terms with their illnesses and accept ongoing treatment. He shares research into different treatment options and discusses the cognitive function impairments that can result from manic and depressive episodes.

Bipolar disorder has long been treated with lithium, which is proven to reduce the occurrences of manic of depressive episodes. Intriguingly, environmental lithium has been associated with lower suicide rates. But little is known about how or why it works and, as a naturally occurring rather than a manufactured medicine, there has been little commercial interest in more research.

“The genetic element appears to be pretty strong in bipolar disorder, but it’s not inevitable that if you’ve got bipolar disorder your kids will have. In actual fact, your kids are more likely to have depression than to have straightforward bipolar disorder.” - Professor Allan Young. Presented by Sila Genc Producers: Eric Van Bemmel and Kelvin Param Audio engineer: Gavin Nebauer Recorded: 15 December 2014

Banner image: Pixabay

This episode was first published on Up Close on 30 January 2015

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