Stress, sleep deprivation, shift work and bipolar disorder

[Sherrie]

I'm new to the forum. My daughter was just recently disagnosed with bipolar disorder because she suffered her first manic episode with some very unfortunate consequences. She had been treated for years with anti-depressants as it was believed by her doctors she was "just" depressed.

Is there any empirical evidence that proves that mood disorders can be precipitated (or made worse) by stress. By stress, I am referring to ongoing spousal abuse; sleep deprivation and sleep disturbances caused by working "graveyard" shifts.

I've searched just about every psychiatric and psychological journal printed and wind up confused. It seems for every study that indicates that stress is a factor there is a study contradicting it.

I personally believe that stress has a profound mitigating effect on mood. It just seems logical to me that any disorder (mental or physical) can't be managed properly if a person is bombarded with uncontrolable outside pressures.

[AJ]

Welcome to the forums Sherrie.

I personally believe that stress has a profound mitigating effect on mood. It just seems logical to me that any disorder (mental or physical) can't be managed properly if a person is bombarded with uncontrollable outside pressures.

I agree whole heartedly. Our physical and mental well being are very much interconnected. The world around us and our interaction with it, have a profound effect on how we're doing, at least that's true for me. Not scientific, but life lessens learned.

Of course that's not the whole story. This illness can have a life of it's own, and in spite of our best efforts, we can find ourselves struggling with the demons of our mood disorder. There is only so much that we have control over, and so much that we don't. Finding our way thru the maze of diagnosis, drugs, and health professionals, can be a daunting task. We do it anyway, because we have to.

[paul m]

Hello Sherrie and welcome. Mistreatment of bipolar is common, something like 5-7 yrs or more. Large blow ups because of this mistreratment are common.

No one knows for sure what will set an episode off or start a person with bipolar. It's rare to feel fine one day and have full blown bipolar the next. Stress certainly doesn't help an individual manage their illness and can certainly bring on either manic or depressive episodes.

But that is a generality. For me, I can speak publicly and free of stress in a room full of strangers. But ask me to mingle with those strangers for 4 hrs and I would be stressed out. It also wouldn't bother me in the slightest to work a graveyard shift. But I know for my wife, it would be almost impossible for her to work that shift and she has no problems.

Sleep deprivation will affect even the most normal of people and for somebody with bipolar it would be that much more of a problem.

Spousal abuse is not going to help anybody, mood disorder or not.

Studies are probable contradictory as many very successfull people, who have had bipolar, have operated well under tremendous stress and weird sleeping conditions.

For myself, I had to decide what I could handle and what I could not. Bipolar is a very individual illness as far as symptoms and treatment go and it often takes years to work out what works for an individual and what does'nt. Take Care. paul m

[Sweetest1]

I personally have done extremely well in high pressure/stress jobs. I also don't have a problem on graveyard shifts, or didn't before medications.

Being in an abusive relationship was a negative stress that I couldn't deal with and ended up leaving (years ago, B4 wonderful hubby).

I hope your daughter gets some good help.

Rebecca

[uni]

Welcome Sherrie, and thank you for what you've shared. It seems to me that everyone reacts uniquely to stress.

It sounds like you are doing all you can to understand what your daughter is dealing with. Knowledge of mood disorders is still in its infancy, compared to many other illnesses. Sometimes there are more questions than answers right now, even for the professionals. It's an ongoing quest.

I think your daughter is very lucky to have such a caring mother who wants to understand. I wish you both well.

[Atlantis]

Hi Sherrie,
Welcome to the forum .

I was diagnosed with Bipolar 1 disorder last year, so i am trying, like many, to understand what I can about my illness.

Let me first say, I am no doctor , but i have been told by 3 pdocs that a set amount and regular sleep pattern is essential for people diagnosed with bipolar disorder to help regulate moods, along with meds and many other factors.

Sleep deprivation and even shift work, if that causes loss of sleep or a major disruption in a persons routine, can be factors that may lead to shifts in moods, depending on the person.

One emergency pdoc told me she has seen patients go into a manic phase from one night of disrupted sleep. This may well be an extreme case but maybe you could try talking to your daughter, ask her how she is sleeping when she is doing shift work.

As for the spousal abuse, I have to agree with Paul.

Spousal abuse is not going to help anybody, mood disorder or not. by paul m

As for stress, from my personal experience my episodes have not been triggered by one specific stress event, I have a gradual climb (over several weeks to couple of months) from hypomania to mania to madness...

As for one big sudden stress trigger, I have no experience with that.

For everyday stress I remove myself from stressful situations unless it is absolutely impossible to do so, i can not handle stress, or rather my moods can not handle stess, sometimes I can handle it great, when I am feeling high (hypomanic) but that is not a healthy mood so i prefer to not deal with stressful events if possible.

And you know what, since i started this, it's amazing how much stupid stress things we actually have in our lives that we don't need to have there. Well, i am starting to ramble now so ...

i look forward to hearing how your daughter and you are doing.

[Beatrice]

I think BP is a bit like many chronic illnesses in regards to this issue.

Take out mood disorder and replace with heart disease.

Is there any empirical evidence that proves that heart disease can be precipitated (or made worse) by stress. By stress, I am referring to ongoing spousal abuse; sleep deprivation and sleep disturbances caused by working "graveyard" shifts.

Stress, lack of sleep or other strains reduce our resilience to disease, illness and generally deplete our reserves.

There is a psychology textbook I read that indicated that many (not all) mood disorders may be caused by a combination of genetic predisposition causing a vulnerability coupled with life events that trigger the illness. I can look for the name or ISBN for you if you are interested, you'd probably find it at a college or uni bookstore.