[Gabyunbound]

I saw this in a another thread and I think it's important enough to discuss.

Is Bipolar Disorder caused by abuse? I had thought that -potentially, though not always- abuse can result in PTSD and C-PTSD, but I had no idea that it played a role in BP. I googled around and could only find one article about a positive relationship (Medscape) purporting that childhood abuse can be a factor in the development and severity of BP. Otherwise, I found the opposite and articles that were not relevant (substance 'abuse' kept coming up as a result of BP). I also found articles talking about the relationship between the two but not causality per se.

I have not been a victim of abuse, however I have BP. Is BP caused by abuse? Sometimes, always, ever? Is there a causal relationship? Or can the two exist side by side without the one causing the other?

What are your thoughts?

Interesting. I want to make an insightful reply, but can you link to the medscape article?

[SparkySmart]

I can only speak for myself, of course, but I don't have any history of abuse, not even mild; in fact, I would say that I had a privileged childhood, full of adventure. I was diagnosed with BP in my third year of college, when I became manic without any precipitating factors and was hospitalized. My moodswings throughout life have been totally unrelated to any external stimuli. I do, however, have an impressive family history of BP, going back generations (called manic-depressive then, of course). For this reason, I would consider bipolar, or the predisposition for same, genetic.

EDITED to add: After a little reflection, I think that, for me, multiple stressors can cause bipolar episodes. For this reason, I lead a very disciplined and
responsible lifestyle with as little drama as possible. I would never flirt with early symptoms...too risky.

[Gabyunbound]

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/803269

This is the Medscape article. I could only read a portion of it because I don't have a membership

I had an abusive childhood. My ptsd is definitely from that. I also think it caused my borderline. Bipolar though? I think that's more genetic as mental illness runs in the family. Of course I don't know for sure. It's just my speculations on things.

[Travelinglady]

probably not

Originally Posted by Gabyunbound

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/803269

This is the Medscape article. I could only read a portion of it because I don't have a membership

Cool. Thanks

I found someone who copy-pasted the original article:
https://www.mdjunction.com/forums/bi...polar-disorder

I'll read it and get back to you.

After reading the article, I noticed that the research study seemed to follow the "correlation implies causation" approach.

I think trauma can trigger BP, since BP is often genetic and since we all have different ages of onset of the disease, but I don't know about cause BP. Then again, I'm not a doctor or researcher who has years of experience with BP, so who knows? I think anything is possible. However, I don't believe we should outright say "no" to something like "BP can be triggered by trauma" when there is some sort of correlation between trauma and BP.

We need to weed out the different types of trauma to get down to the nitty gritty details, as mentioned by one of the doctors in the article. After all, trauma covers such a broad area of issues that it almost seems impossible to figure out if a specific type of trauma triggers BP. Alsoooo, some people may not have realized they had BP in the first place and so it gets confusing to see which came first. And then there's the case where BP behaviors led to trauma, which I don't think the study looked at. (I think it'd be extremely rare for BP to lead to trauma, but you do need to cover all bases to make a conclusive study.)

But my opinion is trauma = trigger for BP onset.

I think it is genetic predisposition + some kind of stressor to set it off, like abuse.

I have several factors plus genetic disposition

RE: alcohol/substance abuse—I think this is self-medication

[SorryShaped]

I always had bipolar. The symptoms were very present at 3. Nobody knew what it was.

[HALLIEBETH87]

The psychiatrist who first diagnosed me
With bipolar said that my traumatic childhood probably played a factor.

I have a history of abuse.
if it had a part to play in my BP diagnoses, I don't know.

plenty of other messed up things in my life that could have caused it... I don't know what did for sure

[RedDawn]

The current theory is that a person is born with a genetic predisposition for bipolar.

That predisposition may or may not manifest and environmental factors can play a role in triggering the manifestation.

So, abuse wouldn't cause bipolar, but it could be a factor in triggering a genetic predisposition for bipolar disorder to manifest.

And people can obviously have bipolar without a history of abuse.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

For me abuse delayed my diagnosis. I was always symptomatic, even as an infant I did not sleep and screamed my way through life. When I finally got into therapy I was treated for MDD and PTSD. When I was diagnosed with bipolar I asked the therapist who had diagnosed the MDD and PTSD and he said the trauma presentation prevented him from seeing the bipolar even though looking back it was there. (It didn't help that I hid symptoms but the focus on PTSD was what really delayed diagnosis).

[*Laurie*]

The answer is NO.

Abuse cannot cause bipolar disorder.

A person can have a predisposition for bipolar and certain environmental stressors can trigger bipolar symptoms, but bipolar disorder is a neurological disorder. It is a disorder of the brain, a medical condition that can sometimes respond to environmental triggers.

Some people have bipolar disorder and were abused; some people have bipolar disorder and were never abused. The point is, people are born with bipolar disorder, no environmental incident can "cause" the disorder.

(Btw Gabyunbound, the thread you referred to has a lot of info in it that is incorrect.)

[amicus_curiae]

Possible trigger:

I was sexually abused at age(s)

7 and 14. I can’t say that either was traumatic abuse, though. The age 14 became too bizarre to be traumatic, aged 7 felt like love.

I was presenting bipolar behaviors in my mid-teens. I don’t think that it had anything to do with that ‘abuse,’ though.

***she’s found a chord that she can strum***

[Blueberrybook]

I had an abusive childhood.

I believe it can be a contributing factor but not necessarily. I think it could possibly tip the balance.

Mental illness also runs quite deeply through my mother's line of the family.

[cool09]

I read a bio about a Dr. (Dean Mackinnon) I saw at Johns Hopkins and he has a theory that delayed emotional development plays a role in BP. He also developed a breathing test for detecting BP.

[*Laurie*]

Originally Posted by *Laurie*

The answer is NO.

Abuse cannot cause bipolar disorder.

A person can have a predisposition for bipolar and certain environmental stressors can trigger bipolar symptoms, but bipolar disorder is a neurological disorder. It is a disorder of the brain, a medical condition that can sometimes respond to environmental triggers.

Some people have bipolar disorder and were abused; some people have bipolar disorder and were never abused. The point is, people are born with bipolar disorder, no environmental incident can "cause" the disorder.

(Btw Gabyunbound, the thread you referred to has a lot of info in it that is incorrect.)

I do believe that people who are mentally ill are more sensitive to the environment they're in.

[Gabyunbound]

I agree that there is no -direct- causal relationship between childhood abuse and BP. Abuse does not = development of BP. Insofar as environmental issues can induce development of MI in general, when one has a genetic disposition anyway, I think is possible. But I think that this is common in PTSD and BPD. BP is an MI of another flavor altogether.

Again, I do believe that childhood abuse can (and again, not always, but it's not clear why some do not develop it) lead to PTSD. But PTSD and BP are two entirely different things, with vastly different symptom profiles and, yes, causes.

Thanks for all of your replies. I have suspected the above, but wanted some feedback from you guys.

For those of you who have been abused, my heart goes out to you and I admire you for fighting your way to find the best version of health you can manage. I can't imagine battling the after-effects of abuse along with BP. I just don't think there's a direct correlation. Though I do think that any MI (i.e. PTSD) can exacerbate other MI's and this could be the case with PTSD-BP. This is probably why therapy, in conjunction with psychiatric care, is the best way to go. For all or most of us, no matter what the MI, frankly.

[seesaw]

Thanks for this thread. I had been wondering about this myself and it's interesting to see the comments contributed by those with bipolar as well as the studies. I had read some studies regarding it as well, and only say that it was an environmental factor that could trigger it or increase severity but not necessarily cause it. Of course, the brain is still much of a mystery so we can only say this is what we know now. We may know more in the future.

Good thread. Thank you.

Seesaw

[pirilin]

Abuse can cause bipolar faster than a hit in the head. Which also causes it.

[AspiringAuthor]

Abuse occurs in more than 1% of the population, while classic BP I affects 1% of the population.

Kay Jamison describes a wonderful childhood and dedicates her memoir to her mother.

I think as Laurie said abuse can trigger in the presence of a genetic predisposition.