ADHD Questions
Questions
Can a person have ADHD and bipolar disorder?
By Charles Li, MD
December 16, 2022
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It’s pretty common to have both ADHD and Bipolar Disorder.
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Having both conditions can affect your symptoms.
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It also makes treating ADHD trickier.
ADHD and Bipolar Disorder have a fair amount in common. For example, both conditions can cause someone to feel like they have racing thoughts. Not surprisingly, you can have both conditions at the same time.
In fact, it happens quite frequently:
A review of ADHD and Bipolar Disorder has found substantial overlaps between ADHD and Bipolar Disorder. Having one condition makes it more likely that we’ll have the other condition at some point in our lives.
One study estimated that around 12-40% of people with ADHD might also have Bipolar Disorder. Similarly, around 9-35% of those with Bipolar Disorder may also have ADHD.
Mental Health and ADHD
This overlap isn’t just with Bipolar Disorder.
Individuals with ADHD frequently experience additional mental health conditions. One study estimated that up to 80% of people with ADHD will experience at least one other mental health condition.
Studies have also found higher rates of anxiety and depression in those with ADHD.
ADHD has been linked to higher rates of psychiatric conditions. Up to 80% of those with ADHD will experience at least one additional psychiatric condition. ADHD has also been linked to higher rates of anxiety and depression.
How ADHD affects Bipolar Disorder
Having ADHD and bipolar disorder together also affects the symptoms we experience. One study found that those with ADHD and Bipolar Disorder were more likely to experience episodes of mania.
Essentially, having both conditions together makes Bipolar Disorder more severe.
Individuals with Bipolar Disorder and ADHD are more likely to experience more episodes of mania.
As shown in summary below, ADHD also affects when we start experiencing the symptoms of Bipolar Disorder, as ADHD is associated with earlier episodes of mania.
ADHD is common among individuals with bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is also common among individuals with ADHD. Having ADHD and bipolar disorder increases the chances that someone will experience many manic episodes. ADHD also correlates with an earlier start to a person’s manic episodes.
How ADHD treatment affects Bipolar Disorder
Having ADHD and Bipolar Disorder together can make it harder to treat ADHD symptoms.
One of the warnings for Adderall and Ritalin highlights the risk of prescribing these medications to individuals with Bipolar Disorder.
These medications can potentially cause manic episodes for those with Bipolar Disorder.
This risk is significant enough that the FDA recommends that individuals with ADHD and depressive symptoms should be screened for Bipolar Disorder before taking stimulant medications.
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Particular care should be taken in using stimulants to treat ADHD patients with comorbid bipolar disorder because of concern for possible
induction of mixed/manic episode in such patients. Prior to initiating treatment with a stimulant, patients with comorbid depressive symptoms
should be adequately screened to determine if they are at risk for bipolar disorder; such screening should include a detailed psychiatric history,
including a family history of suicide, bipolar disorder, and depression.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that ADHD symptoms shouldn’t be treated if someone has bipolar disorder. Stimulants can be a safe treatment option if the underlying symptoms of bipolar disorder are treated first.
In a scientific review of the data on ADHD treatments and Bipolar Disorder, scientists concluded that stimulants and Strattera could be used safely once a patient with bipolar disorder is treated for their symptoms.
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Although systematic trials on the use of stimulants and ATX in ADHD-BD comorbidity in adulthood are necessary, both treatments should be considered possible options to be carefully evaluated once the patient has been stabilized.