Volume 194 - Issue 6
Bipolar disorder supplement needed broader perspective
Authors: Jon N Jureidini, Peter I Parry, Catherine M Houen and Malcolm W Battersby
Med J Aust 2011; 194 (6): 326. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2011.tb02992.x
Published online: 21 March 2011
Published online: 21 March 2011
To the Editor: The supplement of the Journal published on 16 August 2010 — “Bipolar disorder: new understandings, emerging treatments”1 — illustrates a number of features of the current implementation of the Journal’s supplement policy that are problematic. While it is clearly stated that the supplement “was supported by an unconditional grant from AstraZeneca Neuroscience”, the amount of sponsorship, to whom it was paid, and how it was used were not disclosed. Such information is particularly pertinent as evidence suggests that the pharmaceutical industry has financial motivation to see a widening of the diagnostic boundaries of bipolar disorder and a rebadging of atypical antipsychotics as “mood stabilisers”.2
The provenance of the articles is not revealed — it is not clear whether the articles were solicited, part of a symposium, or from some other source. Bipolar disorder is a controversial area in psychiatry,3 yet despite much useful information in the articles in the supplement, discussion of this controversy is a minor feature and no significant critical appraisal is offered. To give a more balanced view to readers, it would have been desirable to have included articles that highlight the controversy regarding bipolar II and bipolar spectrum diagnoses and discuss the ways in which personality disorders arising from developmental trauma and attachment problems can present with mood and behavioural disturbances that can be confused with bipolar disorder.
Competing interests
Jon Jureidini, Peter Parry and Malcolm Battersby are members of Healthy Skepticism.
References
- Castle DJ, Berk M, Hocking BM. Bipolar disorder: new understandings, emerging treatments. Med J Aust 2010; 193 (4 Suppl): S3-S4. 0_CBBFHFCC
- Spielmans GI, Parry PI. From evidence-based medicine to marketing-based medicine: the evidence from internal industry documents. J Bioeth Inq 2010; 7: 13-29. 0_pgfId-2287670
- Paris J. The bipolar spectrum: a critical perspective. Harv Rev Psychiatry 2009; 17: 206-213. 0_i1095844