an article by Christian Hakulinen (University of Helsinki, Finland; Aarhus University, Denmark) and Katherine L. Musliner and Esben Agerbo (Aarhus University, Denmark) published in Depression and Anxiety Volume 36 Issue 11 (November 2019)
Abstract
Background
Mood disorders are known to be associated with poor socioeconomic outcomes, but no study has examined these associations across the entire worklife course. Our goal was to estimate the associations between bipolar disorder and depression in early adulthood and subsequent employment, income, and educational attainment.
Methods
We conducted a nationwide prospective cohort study including all individuals (n = 2,390,127; 49% female) born in Denmark between 1955 and 1990. Hospital‐based diagnoses of depression and bipolar disorder before age 25 were obtained from the Danish psychiatric register. Yearly employment, earnings, and education status from ages 25 to 61 were obtained from the Danish labor market and education registers. We estimated both absolute and relative proportions.
Results
Population rates of hospital‐diagnosed depression and bipolar between ages 15–25 were 1% and 0.12%, respectively. Compared to individuals without mood disorders, those with depression and particularly bipolar disorder had consistently poor socioeconomic outcomes across the entire work‐life span. For example, at age 30, 62% of bipolar and 53% of depression cases were outside the workforce compared to 19% of the general population, and 52% of bipolar and 42% of depression cases had no higher education compared to 27% of the general population. Overall, individuals with bipolar disorder or depression earned around 36% and 51%, respectively, of the income earned by individuals without mood disorders. All associations were smaller for individuals not rehospitalized after age 25.
Conclusions
Severe mood disorders with onset before age 25, particularly bipolar disorder, are associated with persistent poor socioeconomic outcomes across the entire work‐life course.
Showing posts with label bipolar_disorder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bipolar_disorder. Show all posts
Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Friday, 31 August 2018
A Creative Way to Cope with Depression
a post by Margarita Tartakovsky for the Make a Mess: Everyday Creativity [via World of Technology blog]
“Ghostlike, you watch me in my morning shower,
You hover in the corner of the kitchen.
You sit seductively on the soft sofa
Wearing an evil smirk,
Beckoning for me to spend
My precious hours there with you.”
These are the first few lines of Elizabeth Maynard Schaefer’s poem about her own depression in her powerful book Writing Through the Darkness: Easing Your Depression with Paper and Pen. Schaefer, who has bipolar disorder, believes that writing saved her life. She also takes medication, and has received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). As she writes in the book, “Writing was as healing to me as all my medical treatments—this did matter. Writing helped bring me back.”
Continue reading
“Ghostlike, you watch me in my morning shower,
You hover in the corner of the kitchen.
You sit seductively on the soft sofa
Wearing an evil smirk,
Beckoning for me to spend
My precious hours there with you.”
These are the first few lines of Elizabeth Maynard Schaefer’s poem about her own depression in her powerful book Writing Through the Darkness: Easing Your Depression with Paper and Pen. Schaefer, who has bipolar disorder, believes that writing saved her life. She also takes medication, and has received electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). As she writes in the book, “Writing was as healing to me as all my medical treatments—this did matter. Writing helped bring me back.”
Continue reading
Thursday, 30 August 2018
People with Bipolar Disorder Share How They Started Treatment—and Why They Stick with It
a post by Margarita Tartakovsky for the World of Psychology blog
Bipolar disorder is highly treatable, and yet so many people don’t seek treatment. Or if they do seek help, they later stop taking their meds or stop attending their therapy sessions. Or both. And then their bipolar blows up. Their mania spikes. Their depression sinks even deeper.
Sticking to treatment is not easy. Medication has side effects. Therapy takes work. The illness itself can be stubborn, exhausting, confusing.
It can all feel so frustrating.
We wanted to know what led some individuals to stick to their initial treatment — and why they’ve stayed dedicated ever since. Of course, life is not linear, and the people we interviewed haven’t had linear journeys either. Because bipolar disorder is complex. Their stories will no doubt inspire you, and remind you that you are not alone, and you can get better — even if your journey’s been jagged, too, even if it doesn’t feel like that right now.
Continue reading
Bipolar disorder is highly treatable, and yet so many people don’t seek treatment. Or if they do seek help, they later stop taking their meds or stop attending their therapy sessions. Or both. And then their bipolar blows up. Their mania spikes. Their depression sinks even deeper.
Sticking to treatment is not easy. Medication has side effects. Therapy takes work. The illness itself can be stubborn, exhausting, confusing.
It can all feel so frustrating.
We wanted to know what led some individuals to stick to their initial treatment — and why they’ve stayed dedicated ever since. Of course, life is not linear, and the people we interviewed haven’t had linear journeys either. Because bipolar disorder is complex. Their stories will no doubt inspire you, and remind you that you are not alone, and you can get better — even if your journey’s been jagged, too, even if it doesn’t feel like that right now.
Continue reading
Tuesday, 8 May 2018
Bipolar Disorder: When You Feel Like You’re Starting Over
a post by Margarita Tartakovsky for the World of Psychology blog
Gabe Howard’s biggest fear is that his bipolar disorder will get worse. “I’m more worried about the symptoms of bipolar disorder coming back than I am about anything else. Literally anything else. I’ll walk through the streets after midnight in New York City and not be a bit concerned about being attacked – but I’ll be terrified of losing everything to bipolar disorder.”
Elaina J. Martin also fears getting sicker. “I worry I will get in a depression so dark I will become suicidal because it has happened before.” She, too, worries about the mania returning. “Mania is ‘crazy.’ At first it is fun, but then you get out of control.”
Karla Dougherty, a writer who’s penned over 42 books, fears her bipolar II disorder will crush her creativity, because the health of her creativity is related to the health of her mind. “You’re always afraid you’ll lose that flow, that rhythm, that pushed you in a creative direction in the first place.”
When you have bipolar disorder – or any chronic condition – it’s understandable to have anxiety about the illness’s impact. And this anxiety may come with a parade of what-ifs and worst-case scenarios.
Amy Marlow was recently diagnosed with bipolar II disorder (along with PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder). As she writes in her powerful post, “I feel like every thought begins with what if. What if I have to change my medication? What if it doesn’t work? What if I lose everything I’ve worked so hard for? What if I get sick again?”
When you have bipolar disorder – or any chronic condition – it also can feel like you take one step forward and then 10 steps back. It can feel like you’re constantly starting over. Which is incredibly frustrating and demoralizing.
Continue reading
Gabe Howard’s biggest fear is that his bipolar disorder will get worse. “I’m more worried about the symptoms of bipolar disorder coming back than I am about anything else. Literally anything else. I’ll walk through the streets after midnight in New York City and not be a bit concerned about being attacked – but I’ll be terrified of losing everything to bipolar disorder.”
Elaina J. Martin also fears getting sicker. “I worry I will get in a depression so dark I will become suicidal because it has happened before.” She, too, worries about the mania returning. “Mania is ‘crazy.’ At first it is fun, but then you get out of control.”
Karla Dougherty, a writer who’s penned over 42 books, fears her bipolar II disorder will crush her creativity, because the health of her creativity is related to the health of her mind. “You’re always afraid you’ll lose that flow, that rhythm, that pushed you in a creative direction in the first place.”
When you have bipolar disorder – or any chronic condition – it’s understandable to have anxiety about the illness’s impact. And this anxiety may come with a parade of what-ifs and worst-case scenarios.
Amy Marlow was recently diagnosed with bipolar II disorder (along with PTSD and generalized anxiety disorder). As she writes in her powerful post, “I feel like every thought begins with what if. What if I have to change my medication? What if it doesn’t work? What if I lose everything I’ve worked so hard for? What if I get sick again?”
When you have bipolar disorder – or any chronic condition – it also can feel like you take one step forward and then 10 steps back. It can feel like you’re constantly starting over. Which is incredibly frustrating and demoralizing.
Continue reading
Saturday, 28 April 2018
A Serious Postpartum Disorder You Probably Haven’t Heard About
a post by Margarita Tartakovsky for the World of Psychology blog
Within 24 hours of her second daughter’s birth, Dyane Harwood felt elated. From the moment she came home from the hospital, she started writing. Furiously. She wrote while nursing her daughter and going to the bathroom. She wrote on her hands, on the bathroom mirror, inside books and on tabletops. She yearned to write down every thought she was having. She wrote so much that her wrists ached – her carpal tunnel returning – and she was in constant pain.
She also had endless energy and a newfound enthusiasm for life. She felt like she could run a long race. She couldn’t sit still, and her speech was fast and frenetic. She barely slept. Her normally low self-esteem soared. She had no appetite and was losing weight.
Six weeks later Harwood was diagnosed with postpartum bipolar disorder, which she chronicles in her powerful, information-packed memoir Birth of a New Brain: Healing from Postpartum Bipolar Disorder. (Today, she’d be diagnosed with bipolar disorder, “peripartum onset,” per the DSM-5). Her compulsive urge to write is actually a condition called hypergraphia, which is associated with bipolar disorder.
When we think of postpartum conditions, we think of depression and anxiety. Rarely does bipolar disorder come to mind, and yet according to Postpartum Support International, “Many women are diagnosed for the first time with bipolar depression or mania during pregnancy or postpartum.” According to perinatal psychiatrist and researcher Dr. Verinder Sharma, “We know childbirth is perhaps the most important and most potent trigger of bipolar disorder.”
Continue reading
Within 24 hours of her second daughter’s birth, Dyane Harwood felt elated. From the moment she came home from the hospital, she started writing. Furiously. She wrote while nursing her daughter and going to the bathroom. She wrote on her hands, on the bathroom mirror, inside books and on tabletops. She yearned to write down every thought she was having. She wrote so much that her wrists ached – her carpal tunnel returning – and she was in constant pain.
She also had endless energy and a newfound enthusiasm for life. She felt like she could run a long race. She couldn’t sit still, and her speech was fast and frenetic. She barely slept. Her normally low self-esteem soared. She had no appetite and was losing weight.
Six weeks later Harwood was diagnosed with postpartum bipolar disorder, which she chronicles in her powerful, information-packed memoir Birth of a New Brain: Healing from Postpartum Bipolar Disorder. (Today, she’d be diagnosed with bipolar disorder, “peripartum onset,” per the DSM-5). Her compulsive urge to write is actually a condition called hypergraphia, which is associated with bipolar disorder.
When we think of postpartum conditions, we think of depression and anxiety. Rarely does bipolar disorder come to mind, and yet according to Postpartum Support International, “Many women are diagnosed for the first time with bipolar depression or mania during pregnancy or postpartum.” According to perinatal psychiatrist and researcher Dr. Verinder Sharma, “We know childbirth is perhaps the most important and most potent trigger of bipolar disorder.”
Continue reading
Sunday, 18 March 2018
Bipolar Disorder & Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder Often Get Confused, But Here’s The Important Way They’re Different
a post by JR Thorpe for Bustle [via World of Psychology’s Around the Net blog]
You’re not alone if you’ve never heard of premenstrual dysphoric disorder; it’s one of the lesser-known conditions surrounding menstruation, and was only recently given its own entry in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual, which defines how psychiatrists understand and treat mental disorders. But the condition is often misdiagnosed as bipolar disorder, if it’s ever diagnosed at all, leading to confusion on how to treat it – the two disorders are very different, though both affect mood, and it’s important to know the difference between them.
According to scientists at the period-tracking app Clue, premenstrual dysphoric disorder “differs from other psychiatric conditions, such as generalized anxiety disorder, in that symptoms are linked directly to the fluctuations of reproductive hormones, and a diagnosis usually requires that people experience these symptoms predominantly during the late luteal phase”. This means that PMDD, as it’s called, is occasionally described as a “severe” form of PMS, but that’s not exactly accurate.
According to Dr. Marsha Tanenberg-Karant, a psychiatrist in New York, there are distinct differences if you know what to look for. “PMDD”, she tells Bustle, “can be thought of as a mood disorder that develops within the week before the onset of monthly menses and disappears within the week following menses. These are sharp time boundaries. The symptoms have to cause clinically significant distress or interfere with your usual activities”. One of the main differences, she says, is the timing. PMDD mood fluctuations and depressive symptoms are “by definition not present outside this time frame during the menstrual cycle, while bipolar affective disorder types I and II are not time-limited the way PMDD is time-limited. Periods of depression and/or what is known as hypomania are not restricted to the weeks surrounding menses”.
Continue reading
You’re not alone if you’ve never heard of premenstrual dysphoric disorder; it’s one of the lesser-known conditions surrounding menstruation, and was only recently given its own entry in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual, which defines how psychiatrists understand and treat mental disorders. But the condition is often misdiagnosed as bipolar disorder, if it’s ever diagnosed at all, leading to confusion on how to treat it – the two disorders are very different, though both affect mood, and it’s important to know the difference between them.
According to scientists at the period-tracking app Clue, premenstrual dysphoric disorder “differs from other psychiatric conditions, such as generalized anxiety disorder, in that symptoms are linked directly to the fluctuations of reproductive hormones, and a diagnosis usually requires that people experience these symptoms predominantly during the late luteal phase”. This means that PMDD, as it’s called, is occasionally described as a “severe” form of PMS, but that’s not exactly accurate.
According to Dr. Marsha Tanenberg-Karant, a psychiatrist in New York, there are distinct differences if you know what to look for. “PMDD”, she tells Bustle, “can be thought of as a mood disorder that develops within the week before the onset of monthly menses and disappears within the week following menses. These are sharp time boundaries. The symptoms have to cause clinically significant distress or interfere with your usual activities”. One of the main differences, she says, is the timing. PMDD mood fluctuations and depressive symptoms are “by definition not present outside this time frame during the menstrual cycle, while bipolar affective disorder types I and II are not time-limited the way PMDD is time-limited. Periods of depression and/or what is known as hypomania are not restricted to the weeks surrounding menses”.
Continue reading
Sunday, 4 February 2018
What Progress and Recovery Looks Like with Bipolar Disorder
a post by Gabe Howard for the World of Technology blog
Sometimes I wish that I had a disease like cancer instead of bipolar disorder. It’s not because I think cancer is an easier illness to treat or has better outcomes; it’s because a doctor could run tests and tell me if I’m doing better, worse, or the same.
That definitive test doesn’t exist in the treatment of any mental illness. Even the diagnostic criteria are based on self-reporting and observation. Because of this, people living with bipolar disorder need to find other ways to both see progress for themselves and show others they are improving.
It was four years from the time I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder until I reached recovery. While there are many definitions of the word recovery, for me it means spending the majority of my time living my life, rather than managing bipolar disorder.
Continue reading
Sometimes I wish that I had a disease like cancer instead of bipolar disorder. It’s not because I think cancer is an easier illness to treat or has better outcomes; it’s because a doctor could run tests and tell me if I’m doing better, worse, or the same.
That definitive test doesn’t exist in the treatment of any mental illness. Even the diagnostic criteria are based on self-reporting and observation. Because of this, people living with bipolar disorder need to find other ways to both see progress for themselves and show others they are improving.
It was four years from the time I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder until I reached recovery. While there are many definitions of the word recovery, for me it means spending the majority of my time living my life, rather than managing bipolar disorder.
Continue reading
Friday, 1 December 2017
Having a mental illness doesn’t mean you can’t work – I’m proof
an article by Hannah Jane Parkinson published in the Guardian
Government research has confirmed that mental health costs the nation £99bn. It doesn’t make financial sense for employers to discriminate
‘The trust I am under has had some incredible professionals who have cared for me, but in many ways I have been catastrophically let down.’ Photograph: Getty Images/Xixinxing
It’s official. The government-commissioned Thriving at Work report has found that many of us are not, in fact, thriving at work. About 300,000 of us with long-term mental health problems lose their job each year in the UK. For me, this is news alongside sky is blue; Liverpool FC are perpetually underachieving; David Davis understands the Brexit process as much as he does superstring theory.
We have been saying this for a long time. We the people who know. The people with mental illness; the mental health professionals; the experts and charity heads; and in some cases, the employers. It’s a positive step that Theresa May commissioned this report. It’s a travesty that it was such a long time coming.
The tactics shifted a while ago. Some of us stopped appealing to this government’s sense of altruism and began arguing that “it’s the economy, stupid.” Once again, it has been confirmed that the annual cost to the country of poor mental health is £99bn. This isn’t a revelation. I’ve been writing about it for four years, so have many others. The UK’s productivity is in the doldrums. The financial cost to employers is about £42bn.
Continue reading
Government research has confirmed that mental health costs the nation £99bn. It doesn’t make financial sense for employers to discriminate
‘The trust I am under has had some incredible professionals who have cared for me, but in many ways I have been catastrophically let down.’ Photograph: Getty Images/Xixinxing
It’s official. The government-commissioned Thriving at Work report has found that many of us are not, in fact, thriving at work. About 300,000 of us with long-term mental health problems lose their job each year in the UK. For me, this is news alongside sky is blue; Liverpool FC are perpetually underachieving; David Davis understands the Brexit process as much as he does superstring theory.
We have been saying this for a long time. We the people who know. The people with mental illness; the mental health professionals; the experts and charity heads; and in some cases, the employers. It’s a positive step that Theresa May commissioned this report. It’s a travesty that it was such a long time coming.
The tactics shifted a while ago. Some of us stopped appealing to this government’s sense of altruism and began arguing that “it’s the economy, stupid.” Once again, it has been confirmed that the annual cost to the country of poor mental health is £99bn. This isn’t a revelation. I’ve been writing about it for four years, so have many others. The UK’s productivity is in the doldrums. The financial cost to employers is about £42bn.
Continue reading
Tuesday, 7 November 2017
What Makes an Online Peer Support Group Helpful?
as post by Gabe Howard for the World of Psychology blog
As someone who lives with bipolar disorder and often feels disconnected from the “real” world, it’s no surprise I’ve spent a lot of time in online support groups. All of this was long before I reached recovery, became a writer, or even heard the term “peer support.”
For me, it was simply about finding other people who could commiserate with me and understand what I was going through. Overall, I had good experiences in many of the online support groups I joined. However, not all such groups are created equal.
Continue reading
As someone who lives with bipolar disorder and often feels disconnected from the “real” world, it’s no surprise I’ve spent a lot of time in online support groups. All of this was long before I reached recovery, became a writer, or even heard the term “peer support.”
For me, it was simply about finding other people who could commiserate with me and understand what I was going through. Overall, I had good experiences in many of the online support groups I joined. However, not all such groups are created equal.
Continue reading
Tuesday, 26 September 2017
Bipolar disorder and addictions
a post by John B. Saunders for OUP Blog
Bipolar disorder is characterized by significant fluctuations in a person’s mood, which may occur for no apparent reason. It tends to persist and people affected by it have phases when they are very happy and active, and phases when they are feeling very sad and hopeless, with often normal moods in between. Some people with bipolar disorder like the “high” phase so much that they may take no action until their mood is so elevated that they are hypomanic or even manic. In the “down” phase the person feels pervasively sad and may slump into a severe depression and feel life is closing in around them. Bipolar disorder typically starts in a person’s late teen or early adult years.
Bipolar disorder consists of two major types. Bipolar disorder, type I is the classical and well-known disorder, which used to be called manic-depressive illness. Episodes of hypomania and depression tend to alternate, with each phase lasting for days or weeks. Bipolar disorder, type II, is characterized by shorter-lived episodes of abnormal mood (it is sometimes termed “rapid cycling”) and there is a predominance of depressive phases. Bipolar disorder, type I occurs in approximately 1% of the adult population. Bipolar disorder, type II is more common and estimates vary from 2-3% to up to 6% of the general population. Some people use the term bipolar disorder, type III to indicate a disorder where hypomanic episodes are precipitated by antidepressant medications. A form of bipolar disorder can also be induced by substance use. Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between bipolar disorder and certain forms of post-traumatic stress disorder and some authorities argue that there can be an overlap between these disorders.
Continue reading and be aware that the article was written to provide an introduction to the release of the Second Edition of Addiction Medicine
Bipolar disorder is characterized by significant fluctuations in a person’s mood, which may occur for no apparent reason. It tends to persist and people affected by it have phases when they are very happy and active, and phases when they are feeling very sad and hopeless, with often normal moods in between. Some people with bipolar disorder like the “high” phase so much that they may take no action until their mood is so elevated that they are hypomanic or even manic. In the “down” phase the person feels pervasively sad and may slump into a severe depression and feel life is closing in around them. Bipolar disorder typically starts in a person’s late teen or early adult years.
Bipolar disorder consists of two major types. Bipolar disorder, type I is the classical and well-known disorder, which used to be called manic-depressive illness. Episodes of hypomania and depression tend to alternate, with each phase lasting for days or weeks. Bipolar disorder, type II, is characterized by shorter-lived episodes of abnormal mood (it is sometimes termed “rapid cycling”) and there is a predominance of depressive phases. Bipolar disorder, type I occurs in approximately 1% of the adult population. Bipolar disorder, type II is more common and estimates vary from 2-3% to up to 6% of the general population. Some people use the term bipolar disorder, type III to indicate a disorder where hypomanic episodes are precipitated by antidepressant medications. A form of bipolar disorder can also be induced by substance use. Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between bipolar disorder and certain forms of post-traumatic stress disorder and some authorities argue that there can be an overlap between these disorders.
Continue reading and be aware that the article was written to provide an introduction to the release of the Second Edition of Addiction Medicine
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