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The Socioeconomic Factors of Bipolar

Living with bipolar disorder means dealing with mood swings that range from severely depressed to manic states. According to the National Institute of Mental Health bipolar disorder affects more than five million people in the US. Socioeconomic factors like education, income, race, and gender have an enormous impact on mental illness and bipolar disorder is no exception. Understanding these factors is the key to providing people with the best mental heath services available to treat their bipolar disorder effectively.

  1. Education and Income

    • A study in the Journal of Psychological Medicine in 2004 found that bipolar disorder is found at higher rates among people who are unemployed, receiving social assistance, and have lower education levels. However, these factors can be as a result of the affects of bipolar disorder on their lives. This is supported by the same study finding that higher education level and higher income of parents are also associated with an increased risk for bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder itself can change a person's socioeconomic status.

    Gender/Sex

    • Incidence of bipolar disorder is equal between men and women. However, there is misdiagnosis of bipolar because of gender bias. Women are more likely to be misdiagnosed with depression and men are more likely to be misdiagnosed with schizophrenia. In a service report by the US Department of Health Education and Welfare women with bipolar disorder were found to have a life expectancy of nine years less than women in a control group. This report also found that women with bipolar disorder lost 14 years of productivity and 12 years of normal health when compared to a control group.

    Race

    • Troubling differences between the clinical diagnosis of bipolar disorder and epidemiological studies are cause for concern. There is no evidence that race has an impact on the prevalence of bipolar disorder, but because of racial bias it is not diagnosed at equal rates among races. In African Americans and Hispanic communities bipolar disorder is often misdiagnosed as schizophrenia. Misdiagnosing bipolar disorder is catastrophic because people can worsen more rapidly with no treatment.

    Implications

    • Investigating socioeconomic status and bipolar disorder leads to the discovery that racial and gender biases have negative repercussions on the clinical diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Also important to note is that the treatment of bipolar disorder requires both medication and counseling which means that access to mental health services is a must. Individuals who do not have health insurance because their socioeconomic status does not permit also do not have access to treatment of any kind.

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