Bipolar disorder: managing medications

Professor James Potash explains that, for many bipolar disorder patients, managing medications can be difficult.

Certainly bipolar disorder causes lots of disruptions in people’s lives; the depression component may well be disabling for them; they may not be able to concentrate at work, they may have trouble getting out of bed. The mania can cause all sorts of strains such as getting into financial trouble – people often spend too much money and get into debt when they are manic, so managing that is a big issue. Managing medications can be even more difficult with bipolar disorder than with depression from a psychological standpoint, because people with bipolar disorder sometimes really enjoy their highs, and are often reluctant to take medication that will take that away from them.