Do you think the new information about seasonal affects on bipolar disorder might effect treatment?
Bipolar disorder is a chronic illness with a high mortality rate; between 10 and 15 percent of patients commit suicide. This stresses the need for appropriate illness detection, care and treatment. Finding out that bipolar patients have more difficulty in certain times of the year, shows that it would be important to monitor their symptoms, sleep and activity levels [during the different seasons]. They might need a little bit more medication to stabilize them over certain period of time where things are a bit more tenuous. You might have to add medications to help them sleep a little bit more. But these are projected ideas, there is no standard method to deal with seasonal changes and bipolar disorder.
