Bipolar Disorder Daily News Blog

An Increased Risk for Suicide: Bipolar Disorder and a Family History of Suicide

A new study out of the UK shows that people who suffer from bipolar disorder and who also have a family history of suicide, may be at a higher risk for committing suicide themselves. Specifically, bipolar patients with a family history of suicide are three times more likely to attempt suicide than is the rest of the population. Yet this increased risk of suicide isn't concentrated around just bipolar patients. As Dr. Eduard Vieta, one of the study's authors states, a family history of suicide also increases the risk of suicide for people who suffer from other mental illnesses. He's Read more...

Overview of Genetics and Bipolar Disorder

Overview of Genetics and Bipolar Disorders The Foundation for Genetic Education and Counseling highlights the genetics of bipolar disorder, and will soon offer downloadable brochures and information packets for families, physician, and patients. View Website: The Foundation for Genetic Education and Counseling: Bipolar Disorder (www.fgec.org) More on this: Genetic Counseling for Bipolar Disorder Related Stories and More on Genetics of Bipolar: The Genetics of Bipolar Disorder Hunting for Bipolar Disorder Genes Bipolar Disorder Causes Read more...

Fat chance of becoming manic-depressive

A collaboration, led by scientists at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, has discovered the first risk gene specifically for bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness. This means that people who have a particular form of this gene are twice as likely to develop the disease. Lead author, Dr Ian Blair, says: "We are the first group in the world to take a multi-faceted approach to identify a bipolar risk gene - we used a number of families, unrelated patients, and therapeutic drug mouse models. Each of these three Read more...