Tuesday, February 01, 2005

Childhood Abuse Common Among Manic Depressives Reuters Health story at Yahoo - "Nearly half of patients suffering from manic depression, or bipolar disorder, may have been abused as children, scientists say in a new report. Emotional, physical and sexual abuse, or a combination of them, are linked with the condition, which causes dramatic mood swings and changes in behavior. 'Our results suggest that a history of severe childhood abuse is to be found in approximately half of adults with bipolar disorder,' said Dr Joseph Goldberg, of the Zucker Hillside Hospital in Glen Oaks, New York. About a third of patients in his study, which is reported in the British Journal of Psychiatry, had suffered multiple forms of abuse. "