Autism and bipolar disorder

[petrushka.googol]

Is there any relation between autism and bipolar disorder ?

[Strange]

Probably not:

https://www.autismspeaks.org/blog/2014/05/22/there-connection-between-autism-and-bipolar-disorder

[Velocity_Boy]

Well, I will tell you a relation between those two mental disorders. At least a relation between them according to my own personal opinion. (As well as many others in the Psych fields).

 

They are both egregiously over-diagnosed in the United States.

 

In fact I would say they are the two MOST over-diagnosed psych disorders in the USA today, and for the past decade or so.

 

I myself am Bipolar. Diagnosed in my early 20s. Had many full-blown psychotic manic episodes. But I respond well to medication, and when on it am highly functional. (I am currently in grad school in Biology).

 

But I have talked to several folks and heard about dozens of others who have been dx's with Bipolar who never even had a manic episode! Or a bout of paralyzing depression. All they had were mood swings. Which, ya know, is sorta part of the whole homo sapien brain thing. LOL.

 

Autism is also over-diagnosed. A lot of it due to parents who want to slap a label on a kid they cannot control, or don't want to spend sufficient time with. Diet has a great deal to do with it, and I have a professor here at the U who has a private practice and has cured alleged Autistic kids by cleaning up their diets and replacing their sedentary lifestyle with some exercise. (Question: Why are all nearly ALL so called autistic kids total couch potatoes and have shitty diets? You don't really think that's a coincidence, do ya?

 

I also blame Big Pharma, with their tendency to use meds in an off-label fashion for psychotropic drugs. It's like, hey let's invent a disease that we have a cure for!

 

Thanks. Hope this helps.

 

http://www.currentpsychiatry.com/home/article/is-bipolar-disorder-overdiagnosed/c823f5984a7e9a30f2c65f50f08d40e4.html

Edited April 30, 2016 by Velocity_Boy

[Sirona]

Despite being seemingly 'tolerant', we seem to be less accepting of behaviours outside of the norm by seeking to put a label on it which isolates the child more. I understand that ASD is a serious condition and we shouldn't take it less seriously because it's been over-diagnosed but certainly greater observation should be made before giving a diagnosis. Aside from the great emotional impact, it's also a financial concern for both parents and schools as they will need to implement differentiated course material, hire specialist aids and train existing staff. It's fundamental that children with additional needs get the help they need but with budgets in many state schools being scarce, it's difficult for students with genuine additional needs to receive the assistance they need.

[MonDie]

Autism is also over-diagnosed. A lot of it due to parents who want to slap a label on a kid they cannot control, or don't want to spend sufficient time with. Diet has a great deal to do with it, and I have a professor here at the U who has a private practice and has cured alleged Autistic kids by cleaning up their diets and replacing their sedentary lifestyle with some exercise. (Question: Why are all nearly ALL so called autistic kids total couch potatoes and have shitty diets? You don't really think that's a coincidence, do ya?

 

This is too clear cut. Autistic traits are normally distributed in the population, hence the "It's a spectrum". Those diagnosed can have extremely high inflammation compared to other psychiatric disorders, which probably contributes to depression, and I imagine the influence of poor diet on inflammation could make it a confounding variable. Furthermore, omega-3 fatty acids can improve autism (and schizophrenia, depression, bipolar, ADHD, and borderline). This doesn't mean they'll be 100% non-autistic after a dietary intervention.

 

Autism is comorbid with depression, but bipolar disorder is a psychotic illness that worsens with age. The relationship of autism to psychosis is contentious AFAIK. The link should go to Dr Badcock's blog post about the "extreme female brain" study. He contends that the apparent comorbidity of autism with psychosis in the study, at least among the boys, could be due to misdiagnoses. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-imprinted-brain/201506/testing-the-extreme-female-brain-theory-psychosis

[MonDie]

I just stumbled upon information relevant to autism and psychosis.

Firstly, schizophrenia has earlier onset in men, and it starts to look like autism apart from having a much later onset.

Secondly and more interestingly, both autism and schizophrenia are comorbid with OCD, and severe OCD with poor insight mimics the loss of contact with reality in psychosis as they begin to view their compulsions as rational and reasonable. Despite this, however, the following study found that "ultra high risk (UHR)" individuals, considered to have "transitioned" upon their first psychotic episode, may be less likely to transition if they meet criteria for an OCD diagnosis. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2670932/

 

 

Of greatest interest, none of the UHR youth with DSM diagnoses of OCD in this sample converted to full-blown psychotic illness. This result suggests that OCD may not represent a prodrome to psychosis per se and such UHR individuals with significant OCD symptoms may in fact represent a subset of false-positives over the follow-up period.

other sources used:

http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-connection-between-ocd-psychosis/