Comorbid addiction in bipolar affective disorder

Bipolar disorder is a chronic, disabling, frequent and highly comorbid illness. It is often associated with addictive disorders (ADDs), another chronic and relapsing condition, with a lifetime prevalence three to five times higher than in the general population. However, knowledge is scarce about the possible mechanisms and the optimal treatment of this co-occurrence. Moreover, previous research has focused on separate ADDs, and few incidence data were available at the time. Our objective was, therefore, to evaluate the relevance of regrouping ADDs as classified in the preliminary version of the DSM-V in understanding the comorbidity of bipolar and ADDs. Using a comprehensive review of the existing literature, we report similar correlates across ADDs when comorbid with bipolar disorder and the theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. We also identified specific targets for new research in this field, which is urgent given the frequency of this comorbidity.