Type 2 Bipolar Disorder, Emotional Resilience, Science, and Humor
Welcome to the October 2, 2007 edition of carnival of depression, bipolar disorder, and mental health journeys.
Deborah’s Bipolar II Misdiagnosis Problem offered me a flash back to the past; she was diagnosed with depression but she suspects that she is suffering from type 2 bipolar disorder. Therefore she has been taking antidepressants but doesn’t seem to have gotten relief for her symptoms. I was misdiagnosed with type 2 bipolar disorder when I actually had depression. Therefore I was prescribed mood stabilizers that offered me no relief. With most mental illnesses, half the battle is a correct diagnosis because the treatment plan that ensues is directly based on the diagnosis. Read more
Fixing Yourself, Mental Health Research, and Teen Suicide Increase
Marie sent me a video meditation on all the stuff she’s bought to try to “fix” herself; it was one of the more creative blog entries I’ve received. Here’s the link to Marie’s video meditation and to her blog, Diary of a Bad Buddhist. I don’t know what “dialectical materialism” is, but it makes Marie happy, and at least it only takes up virtual space and not the space in her house!
GrrlScientist is quite prolific and sent me three entries, one relating to mental health research and two relating to suicide trends. In terms of the research material, I’d recently written about the potential utility of the enzyme Protein Kinase C in designing novel drugs for treating the mania phase of bipolar disorder, although I have reservations about the clinical study itself (too few participants). GrrlScientist covers a few other recent developments in bipolar disorder research.
I had seen the recent CDC report on teen suicide and wanted to bring it to your attention. I also remember last year when GrrlScientist wrote about her own suicide attempt and her experiences in the psychiatric ward (and no one taking good care of her parrots!).Thus GrrlScientist can write about suicide prevention from a personal perspective and I encourage you to visit her article.
Part of the speculation around the increase in suicide amongst teens is whether the 2003 mandatory “black box” warning for antidepressants had something to do with this trend. In other words, are teens killing themselves due to depression that is not treated, as doctors have become wary about prescribing SSRI-class of antidepressant drugs to children and teens after numerous reports of SSRI-induced suicidal ideation? GrrlScientist writes about this also.
Last week, I listened to a radio interview with one of the authors of CDC’s suicide trend and this question was raised. The author didn’t directly address it, only emphasizing that suicide is a complex behavior and is contributed by many factors. I think treating teen and child depression can get tricky, and the black box warning serves to make doctors aware of the risks involved when prescribing these drugs off-label (i.e. not approved by the FDA) for such vulnerable population of patients. That’s not to say that a doctor cannot prescribe an SSRI antidepressant for a patient whose condition requires immediate treatment, but the risk warnings caution doctors to carefully watch and monitor that patient if an off-label prescription is given.
Grief, Daffodils, and Self-Esteem
One of the reasons why I enjoy TherapyDoc’s writings is because she tells stories that bring issues like depression and therapy at a human level. In Can You Cry Too Many Tears?, TherapyDoc begins by describing a tradition that is steeped in tears and the process of grieving in the Jewish culture. She then considers the delicate balance between crying as a natural and normal process, and crying continuously as a sign that someone needs help. Along the theme of grieving, Laura Young shares with permission an article titled “Grief Sucks” by Patrick Weiland, whose sister was murdered last August. Read more