Prospective: Is bipolar disorder being overdiagnosed?

Managing the Dual Diagnosis Dilemma of Bipolar Disorder and Substance Abuse in Clinical Settings

OBJECTIVE

Drug addiction is a chronic mental disorder that significantly impacts all aspects of an individual's life, and substance use disorder in patients with bipolar disorder. The objective of this study is to assess the frequency of substance abuse among patients with bipolar spectrum disorder.

METHOD

This cross-sectional study evaluated the frequency of bipolar spectrum disorder in patients taking methadone through various screening measures, including Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), DSM IV criteria, Mood Disorders Questionnaire (MDQ), Goodwin and Ghaemi's criteria, and Akiskal classification for bipolar disorders.

RESULTS

Out of the total 197 participants in the study, 77 were identified as individuals engaging in poly-substance abuse. The investigation assessed the frequency of bipolar spectrum disorder based on various diagnostic criteria: 24% according to DSM-IV criteria, 29.9% using MDQ, 29.9% based on Ghaemi and Goodwin's criteria, and the highest rate at 48.2% when applying Akiskal's classification.

CONCLUSIONS

This study highlights the high frequency of bipolar disorder among individuals with substance use disorder, especially those with concomitant depression. Therefore, it is crucial to pay special attention to individuals with substance use disorder with co-existing bipolar disorder.

Triple Diagnosis of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder with Coexisting Bipolar and Alcohol Use Disorders: Clinical Aspects and Pharmacological Treatments

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Bipolar Disorder (BD) and Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) are common medical conditions often coexisting and exerting mutual influence on disease course and pharmacological treatment response. Each disorder, when considered separately, relies on different therapeutic approaches, making it crucial to detect the plausible association between them. Treating solely the emerging condition (e.g., alcoholism) and disregarding the patient's whole psychopathological ground often leads to treatment failure and relapse. Clinical experience and scientific evidence rather show that tailoring treatments for these three conditions considering their co-occurrence as a sole complex disorder yields more fulfilling and durable clinical outcomes. In light of the above considerations, the purpose of the present review is to critically discuss the pharmacological strategies in the personalized treatment of complex conditions defined by ADHD-bipolarityalcoholism coexistence.

A Comprehensive Review of Computer-Aided Diagnosis of Major Mental and Neurological Disorders and Suicide: A Biostatistical Perspective on Data Mining

The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests that mental disorders, neurological disorders, and suicide are growing causes of morbidity. Depressive disorders, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer's disease, and other dementias account for 1.84%, 0.60%, 0.33%, and 1.00% of total Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). Furthermore, suicide, the 15th leading cause of death worldwide, could be linked to mental disorders. More than 68 computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) methods published in peer-reviewed journals from 2016 to 2021 were analyzed, among which 75% were published in the year 2018 or later. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol was adopted to select the relevant studies. In addition to the gold standard, the sample size, neuroimaging techniques or biomarkers, validation frameworks, the classifiers, and the performance indices were analyzed. We further discussed how various performance indices are essential based on the biostatistical and data mining perspective. Moreover, critical information related to the Transparent reporting of a multivariable prediction model for individual prognosis or diagnosis (TRIPOD) guidelines was analyzed. We discussed how balancing the dataset and not using external validation could hinder the generalization of the CAD methods. We provided the list of the critical issues to consider in such studies.

How Does Adding the DSM-5 Criterion Increased Energy/Activity for Mania Change the Bipolar Landscape?

According to DSM-IV, the criterion (A) for diagnosing hypomanic/manic episodes is mood change (i.e., elevated, expansive or irritable mood). Criterion (A) was redefined in DSM-5 in 2013, adding increased energy/activity in addition to mood change. This paper examines a potential change of prevalence data for bipolar I or II when adding increased energy/activity to the criterion (A) for the diagnosis of hypomania/mania. Own research suggests that the prevalence of manic/hypomanic episodes drops by at least one third when using DSM-5 criteria. Whether this has positive or negative impact on clinical practice and research still needs further evaluation.

Bipolarity in a Collaborative Care Model Variation: Detection, Prevalence, and Outcomes

OBJECTIVE

To assess the prevalence of bipolarity and its impact on clinical course, psychiatric consultants' diagnostic impressions and respective treatment outcomes were examined for patients with depression who were treated in a collaborative care model (CoCM) of psychiatric consultation.

METHODS

Electronic records for 1,476 patients were reviewed for the presence of a mood disorder, which yielded 641 patients with complete data on several measures: the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, version 3.0 (CIDI); a questionnaire eliciting data on non-mania-related markers of bipolar disorder (family history, age of onset, course of illness, response to treatment); consultants' diagnostic impressions; and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores before and after consultation.

RESULTS

Of referred patients, 97% were screened for bipolar disorder. A smooth distribution of scores on the CIDI was observed. Patients were divided into four groups on the basis of their CIDI scores (≥7, positive, or <7, negative) and on the consultant's recorded Impression (positive or negative for bipolarity). Of the study sample, 21% were CIDI positive (≥7), and 35% were Impression positive (sufficient bipolarity to guide treatment recommendations). All groups demonstrated equivalent decreases in PHQ-9 scores in the 6 months since consultation, including the potentially overdiagnosed group (CIDI negative, impression positive), which comprised 22% of the study sample.

CONCLUSIONS

Universal screening for bipolarity in primary care is feasible in CoCM programs. Interpreting the data dimensionally is logical on the basis of the smooth distribution of CIDI scores. Such screening will yield high rates of bipolar disorder, much higher than previously reported. Offering treatment recommendations based on an impression of bipolarity to patients with negative CIDI results (<7) was not associated with outcomes worse than experienced by all other consultation patients. Multiple explanations of the latter finding are possible, warranting additional study.

Lithium and the Woozle effect

OBJECTIVES

Lithium is the oldest and most-studied treatment for bipolar depression. Many treatment guidelines place lithium as a top treatment recommendation for bipolar depression; yet some guidelines do not recommend lithium at all. These discrepancies were explored by examining the following errors: the Woozle effect (evidence by citation), reference inflation (overreporting the findings of cited studies) and belief perseverance (maintaining a belief despite new contradictory evidence) as possible causes for these discrepancies.

METHODS

Various search engines were used to find treatment guidelines for bipolar depression. The references cited in these guidelines were examined and analyzed in-depth.

RESULTS

Ten guidelines recommend lithium as a first-line treatment for bipolar depression. Five did not recommend lithium at all for the treatment of bipolar depression. These discrepancies are remarkable. The references cited in the treatment guidelines were examined and do not favor lithium as a treatment for bipolar depression. The guidelines that favored lithium for the treatment of bipolar depression suffered numerous Woozle effects, reference inflation and belief perseverance are prevalent in guidelines that recommend lithium as a first-line treatment. All three errors are principally slippery slopes. These errors do not involve a deliberate attempt to mislead and may reflect failures of the peer review process.

CONCLUSIONS

These errors may be common, as demonstrated in the case of lithium, interfering with our understanding and practice of evidence-based medicine. Both authors and journals need to guard against these types of errors in order to achieve sound evidence-based medical practices.

Prospective: Is bipolar disorder being overdiagnosed?

OBJECTIVES

Many studies indicate that bipolar disorders are underdiagnosed. Yet from 2007 to 2008, a series of publications asserted that bipolar disorders were being overdiagnosed. This review examines the methods used in the studies that reported bipolar disorders were being overdiagnosed.

METHODS

A literature search for studies with original data related to overdiagnosis of bipolar disorders was performed.

RESULTS

Four studies were found indicating bipolar disorders were being overdiagnosed. The Structured Clinical Interview of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (SCID) was used in the diagnostic process. The studies compared the clinical diagnosis of bipolar disorder to a single SCID interview without interviewing family or reviewing old records. The studies assumed the SCID diagnosis was correct.

CONCLUSIONS

Numerous concerns were found. The SCID frequently missed diagnosis of bipolar, the definitions of bipolar disorder are so narrow and conservative that the outcomes of the studies may have been predetermined. Ultimately, the studies compared the strength of a diagnosis made by a treating psychiatrist to a SCID diagnosis collected with virtually no information from the clinician. The assumption that the SCID diagnosis is always correct and the clinician is always wrong is unsupportable. The premise that bipolar disorders are being overdiagnosed is unsupported by reasonable science.