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How does stress affect bipolar disorder?
Answered by:
Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
Severe stress or emotional trauma can trigger either depression or mania in someone with a genetic vulnerability to bipolar disorder. Stress can also worsen a bipolar mood episode or extend its duration. Major life events both good and bad are also stressors and can trigger an episode of bipolar disorder. These events tend to involve drastic or sudden changes, such as getting married, going away to college, starting a new job, or retiring.
Stress can be internal--such as the physical stress experienced by adolescents during the rapid hormonal and brain changes that are going on during that period. Stress can also be external--such as the stress of coping with the demands of the school and home environment for young people or the demands of the workplace and of intimate relationships for adults. People with bipolar disorder may be less able to cope with even the normal stress of everyday living without help, depending on how severe the illness.Dr. Padder is a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is currently medical director of two mental health clinics in Columbia, Maryland, and a consulting psychiatrist at Howard County General Hopsital, an affiliate of Johns Hopkins Medicine. Write to Dr. Padder at tanveerpadder@gmail.com.
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