Empirical Insanity

I was in the second of two all-day meetings today. The first I got through by being actively interested plus taking adderall, but by today I was so tired of paying attention that the adderall wasn’t much help. (It doesn’t fix not wanting to pay attention, luckily; the first add medication I tried caused me to pay attention to everything anybody said no matter what even if I really wanted to think about something else.) So tonight is Random Facts From Goodwin & Jamison (2007) Night, instead of semi-coherent post on something substantive night.

• People first developing bipolar disorder are, on average, 22.2 years old. In 1990 that figure was six years higher for studies with similar inclusion/exclusion criteria. Why? They mention a couple hypotheses: more people are being diagnosed bipolar instead of schizophrenic (and psychotic features appear to show up earlier), and antidepressants and stimulants are kicking off episodes earlier than they would naturally have occurred.
• A few entries from a long list of conditions and drugs reported to precipitate manic episodes: influenza, Syndenham’s chorea (movement disorder caused by infection), bromide (a sedative used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries), and Q fever.
• Apparently lithium during pregnancy isn’t anywhere near as likely to lead to a heart defect as we used to believe. (But you still shouldn’t breastfeed on it.)