People who suffer from bipolar disorder, also called manic depression, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder often suffer from more than one mental health disorder. As many as 20 percent of people who suffer from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder also have a mood disorder on the bipolar spectrum, reports Dr. William Dodson in the article, “Is It More Than ADHD? Diagnosing and Treating Bipolar Disorder,” in ADDitude magazine. It’s critical to successful treatment to receive the correct diagnosis.
Symptoms
Many symptoms of these two disorders overlap. People with manic depression or ADHD suffer from mood instability, talk excessively, seem to have spurts of energy and experience restlessness, reports Dr. Dodson. Three main symptoms of ADHD include inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. People who have bipolar disorder go from periods of depression in which they feel overwhelming sad, have trouble eating and sleeping, feel hopeless and have trouble concentrating, to periods of mania in which they feel extremely happy or irritable, have little need for sleep, have an inflated sense of self and participate in reckless behavior.
Misconceptions
It can be hard to differentiate between ADHD and bipolar disorder when making a diagnosis. Only doctors and mental health professionals have the capacity to make these diagnoses. Dr. Dodson reports that some criteria can help professionals make an accurate diagnosis. The age at which symptoms appear may help determine whether the person suffers from ADHD or bipolar disorder. People with ADHD usually will have been experiencing some symptoms since early childhood, before the age of 7. Bipolar disorder usually doesn’t develop until late adolescence or early adulthood. When someone has ADHD, he constantly has symptoms. People with bipolar disorder go through periods where they feel normal and don’t experience symptoms. Another difference entails the trigger of symptoms. Someone with ADHD experiences irritability, anger and depression because of environmental factors such as the death of a loved one or the loss of a job. With bipolar disorder, depression and mania seem to come out of nowhere.
Genetic Links
ADHD and bipolar disorder seem to have a genetic link, but children, adolescents and adults with ADHD usually have other family members who also have ADHD. People who suffer from bipolar disorder might not have family members who experience the same mood disorder.
Treatment
Most of the time when someone suffers from more than one mental health disorder, both must be treated at the same time. Someone suffers from both of these disorders, however, should be treated for bipolar disorder before ADHD, according to Dr. Dotson. The treatment of ADHD can trigger manic episodes and worsen bipolar symptoms. Treatment of these disorders includes medication, individual and family counseling, support groups and psychiatric hospitalizations.
Warning
Without effective treatment, many people with the combination of these disorders self-medicate with alcohol and drugs. They might have suicidal thoughts, do reckless things such as drink and drive, and get into trouble with the law.
