Dr. S. Nassir Ghaemi is Assistant
Professor of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School and
Director of the Bipolar Disorder Research Program at Cambridge
Hospital. He studies the underdiagnosis of bipolar disorder
and the use of mood stabilizers in treatment protocols.
Bipolar disorder is vastly underdiagnosed. On average,
it takes 20 years or until a person is almost 40 years of
age, before bipolar disorder is diagnosed. Dr. Ghaemi explains
that Bipolar disorder is overlooked for many reasons. Most
people have a classic picture of a euphoric person as being
manic. However two-thirds of manic episodes are not elated,
but an irritable or depressed mood. To complicate matters,
half of all people with bipolar disorder have lack of insight,
so they do not even realize they are ill.
Family support for bipolar disorder is critical, yet scarce.
One half of people with bipolar disorder are not medication
compliant. In his clinical practice, the divorce rate for
bipolar disorder is 90%. Dr. Ghaemi explains how important
it is for families to help, especially with medication issues.
