[Moose72]

"Therefore, according to the kindling hypothesis, major life stress is required to trigger initial onsets and recurrences of affective episodes, but successive episodes become progressively less tied to stressors and may eventually occur autonomously. "

This is a great read!
Life Stress and Kindling in Bipolar Disorder: Review of the Evidence and Integration with Emerging Biopsychosocial Theories

[still_crazy]

kindling. i dunno. its an interesting theory, i kinda think its played/playing out in my experience, but...can that be generalized to 'the severely mentally ill' and/or those dealing with recurrent depression, as a whole? based on what evidence? and...

the psych drugs. necessary for me and many others, but...given -how many- people are on them...where do they fit in? is the outlook getting better or worse because of The Miracle Meds?

I agree that it was a great read. Thanks for sharing it!

I had done some minor online research on this topic in the past, but the study referenced provided a more detailed discussion. I can certainly say that my course of bipolar disorder was certainly influenced by the kindling effect, but as the article referenced, there are other factors to consider, too.

Major stressors were involved in both the onset of my bipolar disorder at 14/15 and later down the line. When I was younger, I bounced back a bit quicker, yet I did spend much more time back then in milder mood episodes. As I got older, I experienced much more severe, and longer, episodes. My recovery from my most severe episodes was much tougher and slower. But again, I'm sure that more than just kindling played a part.

My stress tolerance was significantly lowered 16 years back, but has started to improve. The right medications (not all), good therapy, effort, time and patience for mental healing, and low stress situations have aided in my healing. Because of all of these things, I believe I am a proper baseline more months of the year than in all of my past. I still struggle with anxiety issues, but they are a little different animal for me.

[tecomsin]

I only skimmed the paper. It is very long and I doubt I would be able to read the whole thing. At the beginning they write "evidence from the methodologically strongest studies is inconsistent with the kindling hypothesis."

But it looks like a big part of the paper is about what would be the case if the kindling hypothesis were true.

In my own case, I wasn't symptomatic with mania until my mid 40s and had gone through chronic, severe stress in a hostile work environment. So it was my workplace I feel that literally made me ill, but there was also this underlying tendency I inherited from my father. Since then my episodes have been less tied to any external stressor. I was actually ok when I was diagnosed and treated for lung cancer, but had a severe episode after that.

I had not been given ergonomic furniture despite requesting it over a year and had developed a chronic pain condition from my desk work at the computer. My gp sent me to a psychiatrist when all prescription pain meds failed to make a dent, that she tried. My psychiatrist at the time diagnosed me with 'somataform disorder' and put me on 60 mg of celexa. I ended up going manic on that dose and after my 1st hospitalization got a new psychiatrist. My first one knew my father has bipolar but didn't look out for the warning signs of mania or mixed state.

Later I found the drug Lyrica did wonders for my chronic pain condition and I have also been much better since I stopped working a desk job.

I believe the kindling hypothesis but my first mania was I believe triggered by a high dose of an antidepressant.