Anxiety and Bipolar Disorder

In 1921, Dr. Emil Kraepelin talked about “anxious mania” and “excited depression” and both of the states he described included a “great restlessness”. Based on my experience and what I can find in the research, anxiety is most definitely a component of bipolar disorder. In a study published in 2002, Freeman, Freeman and McElroy stated that “A growing number of epidemiological studies have found that bipolar disorder significantly co-occurs with anxiety disorders at rates that are higher than those in the general population.”Anxiety can be a symptom of bipolar disorder or a person may have a separate anxiety disorder in addition to bipolar disorder.

Researchers involved with STEP-BD the largest treatment study of bipolar disorder ever conducted discovered that more than half the research participants with bipolar disorder also had a separate anxiety disorder.

Carolyn M. Drazinic, MD, PhD, is assistant professor in psychiatry, genetics, and developmental biology at the University of Connecticut Health Center In Framington. She says that “It is very common to see an anxiety disorder coexisting with bipolar disorder. Anxiety disorders seen with bipolar disorder include generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorders, and social anxiety.”

According to Dennis Thompson Jr., “It’s well known that both bipolar disorder and anxiety disorder often occur together. The combination can be difficult for patients. Mood swings are much deeper and more pronounced, and intervals when a “normal” mood is present are briefer. Anxiety makes patients in manic phases more likely to engage in impulsive, self-destructive behavior.”

John McManamy writes, “About 60 percent of those with major depression and 40 percent of those with bipolar also contend with full-blown anxiety, but the issue goes far deeper, as all it takes is one or two anxiety symptoms to make your depressions and manias much more difficult to contend with.” He’s written an excellent article about anxiety in bipolar disorder. You can find his article at: http://www.mcmanweb.com/anxiety.html

 References:

PsychEducation.org, Jim Phelps, MD, Anxiety and Bipolar Disorder

Everyday Health.com, Chris Iliades, MD, Dennis Thompson, Jr.

Mcmanweb.com, John McManamy, Anxiety in Depression & Bipolar Disorder