Inflexible thinking in ADHD blamed on bipolar disorder

[confused]

http://www.news-medical.net/news/20131206/Inflexible-thinking-in-ADHD-blamed-on-bipolar-disorder.aspx

 

Impaired cognitive flexibility in patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD) may be entirely due to the presence of comorbid bipolar disorder, say researchers.

The team found that 51 ADHD patients who also had bipolar disorder had significantly poorer results on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) than 278 patients who had ADHD alone.

[Parapluie]

That was really interesting, thanks for sharing. I think it's interesting to see how bipolar does affect executive functioning. I wonder how many episodes each participant had. Just going by the kindling theory, which I know is somewhat controversial, it could stand to reason that the more episodes you have, the poorer your executive functioning will be. Add ADHD into the mix, and you could have someone be extremely impaired in executive functioning and needing a lot of support. 

 

I am fascinated by the link between ADHD and bipolar disorder. I have heard (though have no studies to back this up) that ADHD parents are more likely to have bipolar children than parents without ADHD. It fascinates me because, my father has ADHD and bipolar disorder runs on my mother's side of the family. I have both ADHD and bipolar disorder. It just makes me wonder what kind of genetic loading I have. Clearly, I have genes from both my father and mother (duh) that predispose me to ADHD and bipolar, but I wonder if my father having ADHD made me more likely to develop bipolar disorder. 

 

I also think it's super interesting that people with ADHD are more likely to have bipolar. 

 

Basically, this is sweet brain food and thanks for posting. 

[crtclms]

My dad did one of the studies about ADHD in children being a predictor for BP illness in adulthood. Obviously, it isn't always true, but if a parent has bipolar, and the kid has ADHD, it is more likely than not they will develop BP. I mean as well as having a parent or relative with ADHD. Again, I can only claim this as anecdotal, I have no idea how to find most of his papers.

 

It's weird to me, because I always think of cycling when I think of BP, and not when I think of ADHD, but I know very little about ADHD.

[Emettman]

Interesting.  Because I have Asperger's I am primed to be alert for overlapping symptoms, concepts... resonances, I suppose.

 

Rigid and black-and-white thinking can be us, too

(as seen from a defined "normal".... I think a lot of people are woolly thinkers.)

And ADHD-like symptoms, as well  

(from not having "normal" priorities about what is "important" and "interesting", to be attended to,

or physical sensitivities that can leave us under-stimulated if we sit still.)

 

Apart from the possibilities for misdiagnosis, I wonder if there is also an overlap with ASD, higher than that expected statistically.

 

Co-morbid is such a downbeat expression.  Why not do it as with pills, and call it a cocktail of conditions in such cases?

 

Chris.

[wj74]

I've always referred to my son's ADHD/BP/ASD as a "mixed bag". Sometimes people look at me funny if they don't get the mental picture and I have to explain, well you throw in a little this, a lot of that, and shake it all up, that's what he's got.

[Odetta]

This describes S1, who is ADHD and most likely bipolar, per the docs.  Tons of people in our family are ADHD, and I'm bipolar.  He definitely has executive function problems - he's been on an IEP at school for years for that problem.

 

Interesting that you brought up Aspergers, Emettman.  Because when I said he's most likely bipolar, it's because one of his docs thinks it's Aspergers instead.  We're doing further evaluations to determine which one it is (heck, it may be both, who knows).  At this point, we are treating symptoms, and it seems to be working.  

[Emettman]

", it's because one of his docs thinks it's Aspergers instead.  We're doing further evaluations to determine which one it is "

 

And it's not as if Asperger's had a nice simple test, or a nice single presentation, even before it is hypothetically mixed with anything else, or anything else with it.

 

Attention deficit?   I can pay attention to something for hours.

Unless its something somebody else wants me to pay attention to and I'm not interested, that is.

Then you'll see attention deficit, deficit as measured against someone else's priorities, that is.

(so how much that shows might well depend on how mainstream the things that interest me are.).

 

Chris

[Parapluie]

At this point, we are treating symptoms, and it seems to be working.  

 

I'm glad to hear that it seems to be working! I've been thinking of your family.