Antidepressants can cause bipolar

If you were not bipolar before taking anti-depressants then anti depressants caused it.

A manic reaction to anti depressants is not a symptom of bipolar, its a manic reaction to anti depressants.



Every day they tell people hurt by anti depressants they are bipolar and need more drugs.

Can Capt Obvious help here ?


I have read so many posts "I had a manic reaction to anti depressants so that means I'm bipolar". Our moderator does not like me linking to them but there must be a hundred statements like that on this site alone.

This video is very much like what happend to me,
Pills for Your Ills http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UnJ4H8JLmM

Only with me it was not so funny as I got real sick as the pills piled up.

The part I have trouble explaining is how I didn't see it happening and stop it sooner, before the hospitals and abuse. It was like I forgot "me" before the pills some how.

quacks breeding ignorance or anyone indoctrinated into ignorant industry would disagree with captain obvious...they would even though its clear and obvious or whateve captain obvious does they would disagree....clever bastards and then go on to a tangent about something they are comfortable talking about. myths and $#%^

go captain obvious, they must be getting tired of being wrong for a living

Copy_Cat wrote:If you were not bipolar before taking anti-depressants then anti depressants caused it.

A manic reaction to anti depressants is not a symptom of bipolar, its a manic reaction to anti depressants.

Every day they tell people hurt by anti depressants they are bipolar and need more drugs.

I think in some case they might be right, but they are overgeneralizing it a lot.

As a former recreational drug user, I knew of quite a number of people who enjoyed drug X but had adverse or way too extreme reactions to drug Y or vice-versa so the same drug can have different effects on different people and I don't think this proves anything. Might just be that they have a lower or higher level of a certain enzyme or whatever than the average person which otherwise does not interfere (much) with their overall functioning. However, I think once you had an extreme experience such as a manic or psychotic reaction to a drug, you might be a bit more prone to developing the same kind of experience on another occasion. Just as people who "learned" to dissociate on a certain extreme occasion may be more prone to dissociation in other contexts afterwards.

Take a bipolar self test here

http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/public/bipolardisorder/self-test.cfm


Look at the questions on this test then look at SSRI side effects ...

I was looking at the new DSM V today and this was added in there as a symptom of bipolar disorder.

Copy_Cat wrote:A manic reaction to anti depressants is not a symptom of bipolar, its a manic reaction to anti depressants.

many people who have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder have a manic reaction to anti-depressants. I agree that this alone does not mean that you have bipolar disorder, but it would be a good thing to add to a list of other symptoms in determining a diagnosis.

Cheze2 wrote:I was looking at the new DSM V today and this was added in there as a symptom of bipolar disorder.

Copy_Cat wrote:A manic reaction to anti depressants is not a symptom of bipolar, its a manic reaction to anti depressants.

many people who have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder have a manic reaction to anti-depressants. I agree that this alone does not mean that you have bipolar disorder, but it would be a good thing to add to a list of other symptoms in determining a diagnosis.

The DSM 5 really lists a bad reaction to anti depressants a symptom of bipolar ?

Tell me its not true.

Does it list a bad reaction to crack smoking a symptom of Paranoid Personality Disorder as well ?

Copy_Cat wrote:The DSM 5 really lists a bad reaction to anti depressants a symptom of bipolar ?

The book is at my work, I will get the exact wording on Friday since it is not posted online yet, but yes it's added in there.

Copy_Cat wrote:Does it list a bad reaction to crack smoking a symptom of Paranoid Personality Disorder as well ?

hehe. Crack smoking would be an exclusion when making such a diagnosis

Cheze2 wrote:

Copy_Cat wrote:The DSM 5 really lists a bad reaction to anti depressants a symptom of bipolar ?

The book is at my work, I will get the exact wording on Friday since it is not posted online yet, but yes it's added in there.

Copy_Cat wrote:Does it list a bad reaction to crack smoking a symptom of Paranoid Personality Disorder as well ?

hehe. Crack smoking would be an exclusion when making such a diagnosis

On the proposed revisions page, it actually cautions against diagnosing bipolar because of meds (emphases added):

Note: A full Manic Episode emerging during antidepressant treatment (medication, electroconvulsive therapy, etc), but persisting beyond the physiological effect of that treatment is sufficient evidence for a Manic Episode and, therefore, a Bipolar I diagnosis. However, caution is indicated so that one or two symptoms (particularly increased irritability, edginess or agitation following antidepressant use) are not taken as sufficient for diagnosis of a Manic Episode, nor necissarily an indication of a Bipolar Disorder diathesis.

http://web.archive.org/web/201210310959 ... px?rid=425

Of course, you can kindly ignore the typo there. It seems to be saying that if the drug-induced (hypo)manic episode lasts way beyond what you'd expect from the antidepressant treatment, then bipolar may be diagnosed. However, it also says that just because you become more irritable, edgy, or agitated because of the antidepressant use doesn't mean you have bipolar. Cheze2, is this about what you remember reading?

BTW, this statement would obliterate my bipolar NOS diagnosis, as they don't seem to want med-induced mixed episode to count toward the bipolar NEC diagnosis. At most, I would get bipolar disorder associated with another medical condition.

Patient Online Report of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor-Induced Persistent Postwithdrawal Anxiety and Mood Disorders

http://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/341178