The challenge of comorbidity - Bipolar disorder and anxiety: Australian Psychological Society 38th Annual Conference, Perth, Australia October 1-5, 2003

Comorbidity is developing as a significant challenge to established ideas about diagnosis and treatment of mental health problems. The comorbidity relationships between anxiety disorders and bipolar disorder clearly illustrates some of these challenges. Recent research has identified that some anxiety disorders (particularly panic disorder and OCD) are significantly more common in people with bipolar disorder as in those with unipolar depression (e.g., Chen & Disalver, 1995). These comorbidity relationships are complex and significant for our clients. For example, people with bipolar disorders who also have anxiety symptoms take significantly longer to respond to treatment (Frank et al., 2002) and tend to show more negative prognostic indicators, such as substance abuse, and suicidality (e.g., Frank et al., 2002). This paper will discuss the research and treatment implications of bipolar/anxiety comorbidity and describe some preliminary research that CCI is undertaking to address this challenge of comorbidity.