Drug industry is partly to blame for overdiagnosis of bipolar disorder, researchers claim

Marketing tactics by the drug industry are contributing to a huge overdiagnosis of bipolar disorder, researchers have said.

A team from Brown University in Rhode Island says it has evidence that fewer than half of patients who were given a diagnosis of the disorder actually had it (Journal of Clinical Psychiatry www.psychiatrist.com/abstracts/oap/ej07m03888.htm). Their finding contradicts previous claims that the illness was underdiagnosed.

Lead researcher Mark Zimmerman of Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University, said: “There might well be some cases where the condition goes undiagnosed.

“But the results from this study suggest that bipolar disorder is being overdiagnosed, and, given the serious …