Posted by Larry Hoover on November 11, 2003, at 11:01:16
In reply to Can drug/alcohol abuse cause Bi-Polar?, posted by panic_attack on November 11, 2003, at 9:52:05
> My neighbor is a therapist and he really strongly beleives that I am bi-polar. I have never been diagnosed as Bi-Polar but with Panic/anxiety disorder. I did alot of recreational drugs as a teenager and heavy drinking. One night I OD on cocaine and I have never been the same. I am 23 y/o now and still dealing with alcohol abuse. I take Lexapro and Risperdal. After I go out drinking, I am in a complete mania all day long. Just feel real crazy and psycho and do not feel like myself. Feel like I am going to die and want to know if this could be Bi-Polar that I am experiencing? What do you think?
>
> Thanks.I think the diathesis/stressor model is a good one to apply here.
A diathesis is a genetic tendency or vulnerability. Genes are not destiny, but they do make it easier to tip the balance in particular ways.
A stressor is any external event that requires the individual to respond *according to their genetic tendency*.
It's an interaction between the genes and the environment that produce the symptoms of a disorder (or not).
So, rather than saying that drug and alcohol abuse cause bipolar (or any other mental illness), those behaviours might be the stressors that reveal the genetic vulnerability.
The very tendency to use drugs and alcohol, to excess and OD as you describe, might be considered to be an early symptom of bipolar disorder.....the first hints that something irregular is already starting to show. Bipolars are something like 14 times more likely to abuse substances than "normal" people (whatever normal is, I haven't a clue).
You could have a panic/anxiety disorder, and have bipolar, or it might be simpler to think that your bipolar tendency expresses itself more in that way. It comes down to semantics, and what you're comfortable with as descriptors when you describe your own experience.
Good luck,
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:278520
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031111/msgs/278537.html