Psychopharmacology: The Fourth Generation of Progress.

Objective We reviewed evidence regarding a possible relationship between mood disorders and obesity to better inform mental health professionals about their overlap. Method We performed a MEDLINE search of the English-language literature for the years 1966-2003 using the following terms: obesity, overweight, abdominal, central, metabolic syndrome, depression, mania, bipolar disorder, binge eating, morbidity, mortality, cardiovascular, diabetes, cortisol, hypertriglyceridemia, sympathetic, family history, stimulant, sibutramine, antiobesity, antidepressant, topiramate, and zonisamide. We evaluated studies of obesity (and related conditions) in persons with mood disorders and of mood disorders in persons with obesity. We also compared studies of obesity and mood disorders regarding phenomenology, comorbidity, family history, biology, and pharmacologic treatment response. Results The most rigorous clinical studies suggest that (1). children and adolescents with major depressive disorder may be at increased risk for developing overweight; (2). patients with bipolar disorder may have elevated rates of overweight, obesity, and abdominal obesity; and (3). obese persons seeking weight-loss treatment may have elevated rates of depressive and bipolar disorders. The most rigorous community studies suggest that (1). depression with atypical symptoms in females is significantly more likely to be associated with overweight than depression with typical symptoms; (2). obesity is associated with major depressive disorder in females; and (3). abdominal obesity may be associated with depressive symptoms in females and males; but (4). most overweight and obese persons in the community do not have mood disorders. Studies of phenomenology, comorbidity, family history, biology, and pharmacologic treatment response of mood disorders and obesity show that both conditions share many similarities along all of these indices. Conclusion Although the overlap between mood disorders and obesity may be coincidental, it suggests the two conditions may be related. Clinical and theoretical implications of this overlap are discussed, and further research is called for.

Are Mood Disorders and Obesity Related? A Review for the Mental Health Professional

The ubiquity of social media provides a rich opportunity to enhance the data available to mental health clinicians and researchers, enabling a better-informed and better-equipped mental health field. We present analysis of mental health phenomena in publicly available Twitter data, demonstrating how rigorous application of simple natural language processing methods can yield insight into specific disorders as well as mental health writ large, along with evidence that as-of-yet undiscovered linguistic signals relevant to mental health exist in social media. We present a novel method for gathering data for a range of mental illnesses quickly and cheaply, then focus on analysis of four in particular: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, bipolar disorder, and seasonal affective disorder (SAD). We intend for these proof-of-concept results to inform the necessary ethical discussion regarding the balance between the utility of such data and the privacy of mental health related information.

/pdf/quantifying-mental-health-signals-in-twitter-sli8crs4r1.pdf

Quantifying Mental Health Signals in Twitter

OBJECTIVE: The authors provide a detailed perspective on the correlates of comorbid anxiety in a large, well-characterized sample of bipolar disorder patients. METHOD: Anxiety and its correlates were examined in a cross-sectional sample from the first 500 patients with bipolar I or bipolar II disorder enrolled in the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder, a multicenter project funded by the National Institute of Mental Health designed to evaluate the longitudinal outcome of patients with bipolar disorder. RESULTS: Lifetime comorbid anxiety disorders were common, occurring in over one-half of the sample, and were associated with younger age at onset, decreased likelihood of recovery, poorer role functioning and quality of life, less time euthymic, and greater likelihood of suicide attempts. Although substance abuse disorders were particularly prevalent among patients with anxiety disorders, comorbid anxiety appeared to exert an independent, deleterious effect on functioning, includi...

Anxiety disorder comorbidity in bipolar disorder patients: data from the first 500 participants in the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD).

The Stanley Foundation Bipolar Treatment Outcome Network. II. Demographics and illness characteristics of the first 261 patients.

OBJECTIVE: Bipolar disorder often co-occurs with other axis I disorders, but little is known about the relationships between the clinical features of bipolar illness and these comorbid conditions. Therefore, the authors assessed comorbid lifetime and current axis I disorders in 288 patients with bipolar disorder and the relationships of these comorbid disorders to selected demographic and historical illness variables. METHOD: They evaluated 288 outpatients with bipolar I or II disorder, using structured diagnostic interviews and clinician-administered and self-rated questionnaires to determine the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, comorbid axis I disorder diagnoses, and demographic and historical illness characteristics. RESULTS: One hundred eighty-seven (65%) of the patients with bipolar disorder also met DSM-IV criteria for at least one comorbid lifetime axis I disorder. More patients had comorbid anxiety disorders (N=78, 42%) and substance use disorders (N=78, 42%) than had eating disorders (N=9, 5%). The...

https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1176/appi.ajp.158.3.420

Axis I psychiatric comorbidity and its relationship to historical illness variables in 288 patients with bipolar disorder

http://directory.umm.ac.id/Data%20Elmu/jurnal/B/Biological%20Psichatry/Vol47.Issue12.2000/6085.pdf

Jennifer R. Rochussen

Papers

Axis I psychiatric comorbidity and its relationship to historical illness variables in 288 patients with bipolar disorder

Open-label adjunctive topiramate in the treatment of bipolar disorders