Abstract
Objective
Drug addiction is a chronic mental disorder that significantly impacts all aspects of an individual’s life, and substance use disorder in patients with bipolar disorder. The objective of this study is to assess the frequency of substance abuse among patients with bipolar spectrum disorder.
Method
This cross-sectional study evaluated the frequency of bipolar spectrum disorder in patients taking methadone through various screening measures, including Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), DSM IV criteria, Mood Disorders Questionnaire (MDQ), Goodwin and Ghaemi’s criteria, and Akiskal classification for bipolar disorders.
Results
Out of the total 197 participants in the study, 77 were identified as individuals engaging in poly-substance abuse. The investigation assessed the frequency of bipolar spectrum disorder based on various diagnostic criteria: 24% according to DSM-IV criteria, 29.9% using MDQ, 29.9% based on Ghaemi and Goodwin’s criteria, and the highest rate at 48.2% when applying Akiskal’s classification.
Conclusions
This study highlights the high frequency of bipolar disorder among individuals with substance use disorder, especially those with concomitant depression. Therefore, it is crucial to pay special attention to individuals with substance use disorder with co-existing bipolar disorder.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to all patients who cooperated with us in conducting this research. We also appreciate Dr. Payam Arya, MD, for his kind support in this study.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).