--- title: "Psych News Alert: Bipolar Illness Plus Substance Use May Be Danger Signal for Adolescents" description: Early-onset bipolar disorder is associated with high rates of suicide attempts, Tina Goldstein, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, and ... image: https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/sad-looking%20boy%20in%20gray_95819308-Jun-24-2025-04-19-47-9272-PM.jpg --- 8/6/12 12:00 AM # Bipolar Illness Plus Substance Use May Be Danger Signal for Adolescents ![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [ Psychiatric News Alert ](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) Share: [facebook-f icon ](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/08/bipolar-illness-plus-substance-use-may.html) [linkedin-in icon ](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/08/bipolar-illness-plus-substance-use-may.html) [Twitter icon ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/08/bipolar-illness-plus-substance-use-may.html) [pinterest-p icon ](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/link/?url=https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/08/bipolar-illness-plus-substance-use-may.html) [envelope icon ](mailto:?body=https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/08/bipolar-illness-plus-substance-use-may.html) | [![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/sad-looking%20boy%20in%20gray_95819308-Jun-24-2025-04-19-48-8298-PM.jpg?width=185&height=200&name=sad-looking%20boy%20in%20gray_95819308-Jun-24-2025-04-19-48-8298-PM.jpg)](https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/sad-looking%20boy%20in%20gray_95819308-Jun-24-2025-04-19-48-8298-PM.jpg) | | | --- | --- | Early-onset bipolar disorder is associated with high rates of suicide attempts, Tina Goldstein, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues reported July 2 in the *Archives of General Psychiatry. * Moreover, persistent depression, mixed presentations, and active substance use signal imminent risk for suicidal behavior in adolescents with bipolar illness, the researchers also found. Approximately 3 percent of American youth have bipolar disorder, other researchers recently reported. Since this figure is comparable to its prevalence among American adults, which is about 4 percent, the researchers thus believe that most adults with bipolar disorder probably develop it in their youth. For more information about this study and other recent research on bipolar disorder in children and adolescents, see* Psychiatric News* [here](http://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/newsArticle.aspx?articleid=1217921) and [here](http://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/newsarticle.aspx?articleid=116647). In addition, an article just posted on *Psychiatric Services in Advance* reports on costs of treating bipolar disorder among privately insured youths and how cost patterns differ from those of adults. Read that article [here](http://ps.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleid=1305549). And read more about the growing body of knowledge on diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder in young patients in [*Clinical Manual for Management of Bipolar Disorder in Children and Adolescents*](http://www.appi.org/SearchCenter/Pages/SearchDetail.aspx?ItemId=62291) from American Psychiatric Publishing. Note from Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D.: Last week, all APA members for whom APA has an e-mail address on file began receiving a free subscription to the *Alert*. I would like to welcome these new readers and invite all our readers to send feedback to [jborenstein@psych.org](mailto:jborenstein@psych.org) (Image: Gladskikh Tatiana/Shutterstock.com) [substance use](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/substance-use), [early-onset bipolar disorder](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/early-onset-bipolar-disorder), [bipolar disorder prevalence in youth](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/bipolar-disorder-prevalence-in-youth) ## Related posts [![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/adult%20with%20bipolar_12081334-Jun-24-2025-06-18-22-6739-PM.jpg?height=200&name=adult%20with%20bipolar_12081334-Jun-24-2025-06-18-22-6739-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/11/risperidone-most-effective-in-youth.html) ## [Risperidone Most Effective in Youth With Bipolar Illness, Study Finds](https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/11/risperidone-most-effective-in-youth.html) ![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 11/9/12 12:00 AM Of three drugs often used to treat children with bipolar disorder—divalproex, lithium, and... [ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/11/risperidone-most-effective-in-youth.html) [depression](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/depression), [bipolar disorder](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/bipolar-disorder) ## [Answers About Antidepressant-Induced Mania in Youth Remain Elusive](https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/11/answers-about-antidepressant-induced.html) ![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 11/5/12 12:00 AM Depression is a common first sign of bipolar disorder, especially in children. It appears that the... [ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/11/answers-about-antidepressant-induced.html) [![](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Bipol%20Child%20shutterstock_111897662-Jun-24-2025-09-48-05-4276-PM.jpg?height=200&name=Bipol%20Child%20shutterstock_111897662-Jun-24-2025-09-48-05-4276-PM.jpg) ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/03/family-focused-therapy-reduces-bipolar.html) [adolescent](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/adolescent), [family intervention](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/family-intervention), [bipolar](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/bipolar) ## [Family-Focused Therapy Reduces Bipolar-Associated Symptoms in Teens, Study Finds](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/03/family-focused-therapy-reduces-bipolar.html) ![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 3/21/14 12:00 AM Family-focused treatments have been found to be an effective adjunctive therapy to mood stabilizing... [ Read more ](https://alert.psychnews.org/2014/03/family-focused-therapy-reduces-bipolar.html) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Psychiatric News Alert", "url" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert" }, "dateModified" : "2025-06-24T16:24:11.580Z", "datePublished" : "2012-08-06T04:00:00.000Z", "headline" : "Psych News Alert: Bipolar Illness Plus Substance Use May Be Danger Signal for Adolescents", "image" : [ "https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/sad-looking%20boy%20in%20gray_95819308-Jun-24-2025-04-19-47-9272-PM.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/2012/08/bipolar-illness-plus-substance-use-may.html", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/PN-Blue-Box.jpg" } } } ```