Co-Occurring Bipolar Disorder and Substance Abuse Increases Suicide Risk

A recent study published in the Journal of AffectiveDisorders concluded that people who have bipolar disorder and an alcohol or substance abuse problem are twice as likely to attempt suicide as other patients without that specific combination (Gaita, 2014).

The study examined a compilation of data taken from twenty-nine studies conducted on over thirty thousand people with bipolar disorder. Six thousand of those people had previously attempted suicide.

Furthermore, four of the studies scrutinized in the larger assessment included information about bipolar disorder and long-time cannabis use—it was noted that lifetime cannabis use caused those with bipolar disorder to attempt suicide 1.5 times more than those who did not use cannabis (Gaita, 2014).

References

Gaita, P. (2014). Bipolar substance abusers twice as likely to attempt suicide. Retrieved from http://www.thefix.com/content/bipolar-substance-abusers-twice-likely-attempt-suicide

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