Is it true that you can’t live a long life if you have bipolar disorder? by Andrea Krueger
Answer by Andrea Krueger:
I don’t know yet.
I have lived with bipolar disorder my entire life. My bipolar II disorder gives me persistent suicidal thoughts. I turn 51 this year. Every day is a success for me.
I started with untreated childhood bipolar leading to me being diagnosed with manic-depression at age 17, and re-diagnosed with bipolar II disorder and ADHD in my 30s. As soon as my parents learned of my diagnosis, they put me in treatment. They taught me to be responsible for my illness: to accept it and do everything possible to manage it.
I was diagnosed in 1984, and treatment for manic-depression/bipolar was primarily limited to talk psychotherapy. During the 1980s, little was known about the bipolar spectrum, and psychotropics were reserved for people with bipolar mania. I am bipolar II and have hypomania not full-blown mania. I was not considered for medication treatment until 13 years later.
I continued with psychotherapy and medication. However, trying to find the right medications and being able to afford them took me an additional 15 years to control my symptoms. Having under-treated bipolar is the same as having untreated bipolar disorder, both carry negative behaviors and consequences. I caused much damage in my life while seesawing between treated and untreated bipolar. The principle my parents instilled in me to be accountable for my mental illness has motivated me to continue to pursue mental health treatment and prevents me from totally derailing.
To successfully manage bipolar disorder you must have access to psychotherapy, medication, or some combination of both. Finding effective mental health treatment takes time, and the process of getting treatment is complicated by a fractured mental health care system, inadequate research, and lack of health insurance and mental health parity; furthermore, these issues are compounded by stigma.
Current research in 2015, suggests people with untreated bipolar disorder die on average ten years earlier than the general population:
Life expectancy in bipolar disorder.
However, this is good news!
In 2011, the National Institute on Mental Health reported that people with major mental illness were dying 14–32 years earlier. This means researchers are finding an increase in longevity for those of us with bipolar. I attribute this upswing to additional research and improved methods of diagnosis which are accurately identifying bipolar disorder in people earlier.
Early detection of bipolar disorder and immediate effective treatment greatly increase an individual’s ability to remain stable for a longer period of time throughout their life, and give subsequent generations of people with bipolar, like Asher James, whose answer I think is inspiring, a greater chance for a long successful life.