Medication is the ‘cornerstone' of treatment for bipolar depression, however many people with the condition stop taking it within a year, a clinical nurse specialist (CNS) has warned.

Bipolar depression, also known as bipolar affective disorder or manic depression, results in a person experiencing periods of elation or mania, alternating with periods of depression.

A characteristic of people in the elation state is that they are talkative, full of energy and may be involved in many plans and events. As a result, they are are often unaware of the problem because they feel energetic and full of life.

The treatment for this condition is complex, but a combination of drugs are needed to stabilise mood.

However according to CNS, Sinead Boland, who co-ordinates the bipolar education programme at St Patrick's Mental Health Services in Dublin, over the course of a year, ‘more than half of patients with prescribed medication will stop treatment'.

"Additionally, seven out of 10 patients will stop taking their medications at some time in their lives and nine out of 10 will think very seriously of abandoning it," Ms Boland explained.

She emphasised that interrupting medication, particularly mood stabilisers, ‘is associated with a worsening of the course of the disease and increased hospitalisations'.

"More than half of those who stop treatment will experience a relapse within five months and nine out of 10 will have a relapse within a year," she explained.

She also pointed out that the risk of suicide increases significantly and there is an additional risk that the medication will not work as effectively as before.

Non-adherence can include taking too little or too much of a drug and can be intentional or unintentional.

Ms Boland added that a there are many factors that can influence adherence to medication, including age, gender and symptom severity, but a patient's understanding of their condition ‘is positively related to adherence'.

"Attitudes towards bipolar affective disorder and the patients' health beliefs play a significant role in the emergence of poor adherence."

Ms Boland made her comments in WIN (World of Irish Nursing & Midwifery), the Journal of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.

For more information on depression, see our Depression Clinic here