Features Associated With the Delayed Initiation of Mood Stabilizers at Illness Onset in Bipolar Disorder

Neurobiological underpinnings of bipolar disorder focusing on findings of diffusion tensor imaging: a systematic review

“…3,4 The progression of BD is frequently associated with an increased number of episodes, [5][6][7][8] subclinical symptoms in the interepisodic period, 9,10 higher rates of comorbidities, 11 increased risk of suicide, 12 a higher number of hospital admissions, 13 and poorer response to treatment. 6 Furthermore, several studies have shown a strong association between number of mood episodes and unfavorable clinical outcomes, especially cognitive and functional impairment.…”

Does first episode polarity predict risk for suicide attempt in bipolar disorder?

“…Almost 30% of persons with BD make a suicide attempt (Chen et al, 1996). Bipolar patients are most at risk for suicidal behavior during depressive episodes (Goldberg et al, 2002) and dysphoric mania (Rihmer et al, 2002).…”

Factors associated with delayed diagnosis of mood and/or anxiety disorders

“…The time interval for the specified subgroups was informed by previous studies, which found the receipt of a diagnosis within the same year as symptom onset to be associated with better health-related outcomes among those with mood and/or anxiety disorders. 1,2,12 After excluding those respondents with symptoms that followed their diagnosis due to small subgroup size (n = 50), as well as those with missing responses to either of the questions used to calculate the time to diagnosis (n = 99), we were left with a final study sample of 3212 ( Figure 1). …”

“…[1][2][3] However, despite the existence of effective treatments, a large proportion of Canadians with these disorders experience a delay in diagnosis, or remain undiagnosed. [4][5][6][7][8][9] Individual factors such as low mental health literacy, fear of stigmatization and a preference to manage one's own health, as well as health system factors such as limited access to mental health services and health professionals' insufficient knowledge, skills or time may all play a role.…”