Have Manic Depressives Survived Without Medicine ?
Q: my question has anyone survived manic depression without medication.
A:Some people can lead a perfectly decent, high-functioning life without
medication, and only suffer short, manegeable interruptions; most people
end up with a low- or non-functioning life with untreated md.
One of the fathers of modern psychiatry, Emil Kraepelin, was able to
define manic depression so well because its untreated sufferers were so
clearly differentiated from the "normal", functioning population. That,
manifestly, is not a good thing.
My mother, my brother and I are all manic-depressive. They remain stable
for many years between episodes without medication (except a wee bit of
alcohol), but certainly need it during episodes. She has had severe mania
and severe depression. He has had fewer episodes, and perhaps less severe
ones. I take lithium and chlorpromazine and wouldn't dare to stop the
lithium. I've had several severe manic episodes and relatively mild
depression. They find lithium quite obnoxious (apathy may be their main
problem with it, I'm not sure) while I find it fairly benign.
I don't think I'm game to draw any conclusions from this, or to give
advice. I suppose stopping medication would always be a gamble -- you can
probably estimate how severe the consequences could be, and how you would
feel and function without the meds. I'm tempted to say try it and see, and
be prepared to go back on meds, except there is no way I want to take
responsibility for that sort of advice, especially to someone I've never
met. And get advice about stopping suddenly or gradually.
I just ran into this yesterday and thought of your posting. It's from a
course that my boss is taking (a mental health professional) but I
didn't get the reference. However, I know it to be reputable.
"Bipolar disorder is in nearly all instances, recurrent and chronic,
with no tendency to mature out of the disease. Single episodes of mania
are rae. If not treated, episodes of depression and mania may become
longer and more frequent with time. Untreated manic depression has a
malignant course."
And, I will add: "Over 2/3 of depressed patients have suicidal thoughts.
Twenty-five to thirty percent of manic depressive patients attempt