Letters
Mental health Pharmacology
Volume 194 - Issue 6

Bipolar disorder supplement needed broader perspective

Authors:  David J Castle, Michael Berk and Barbara M Hocking

Med J Aust 2011; 194 (6): 326. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2011.tb02993.x
Published online: 21 March 2011
Download PDF (67 KB)
Share: Share on Blue Sky Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Share by email

In reply: Jureidini and colleagues raise legitimate issues pertinent to our Medical Journal of Australia supplement on bipolar disorders, and we are pleased to respond. First, the extent of sponsorship from AstraZeneca was for publication only. One of us (D J C) discussed the idea of the supplement with the Editor of the Journal, and AstraZeneca expressed interest in supporting the project. Neither the Journal editors nor any of the supplement authors were involved in the sponsorship negotiations between AstraZeneca and the publisher of the Journal, and neither received any financial or other assistance or reimbursement from AstraZeneca. Second, as Coordinating Editors of the supplement, we determined the content of the supplement without any input from AstraZeneca, and we directly solicited articles from leading experts of our choice in appropriate fields. All articles were subject to the usual review process accorded all publications in the Journal.

Regarding the general issue of the boundaries of the bipolar concept, we are very much aware of the ongoing debate. This is a pervasive issue for a discipline devoid of biological markers that can be used to define a plane of cleavage. Indeed, we highlighted this in the second paragraph of our editorial1 as an “immediate area of controversy”. We also solicited the article by Tiller and Schweitzer specifically to address the diagnostic problems in the area of mood instability; in that article, there is specific mention of both the bipolar spectrum and mood instability in the so-called personality disorders.2

With respect, Jureidini and colleagues fall into a common trap by considering that the use of some atypical antipsychotics in bipolar disorder is a rebadging exercise. This is silliness. One could equally argue that sodium valproate, carbamazepine and lamotrigine are not legitimate mood stabilisers but, rather, rebadged anticonvulsants. Tricyclic antidepressants started life as antihistamines. What matters to us as clinicians and researchers is that people with bipolar disorder are offered the best possible care, irrespective of labels. We are also very much aware of the undeniable burden associated with mood instability and hope that the supplement we helped produce will assist general practitioners, in particular, to deliver better care to patients so afflicted.

View this article on Wiley Online Library

More like this

Mental health Perspective 20 July 2026 Open Access

Reorienting Allied Health Into Community-Based Care for People Experiencing Trauma and Social Disadvantage

Simon Rosenbaum, Grace McKeon, Gulsah Kurt, Oscar Lederman, Kemi Wright, Sabuj Kanti Mistry, Jackie E. Curtis, Philip B. Ward, Zachary Steel, Hamish Fibbins, Rachel Morell, Melissa C. Eaton, Andrew Watkins, Ben Harris-Roxas, Brendan Goodger, Eleanor Beck, Megan Teychenne, Joseph Firth, Davy Vancampfort, David Burns, Russell Roberts, Tristan Favaloro, Danielle Weber, Rosanna Barbero, Vasili Maroulis, Melissa Holmes, Stefan Mackenzie, Chiara Mastrogiovanni, Afsana Anwar, Uzma Choudhry, Catherine Sherrington, Jane Currie, Thomas Gadsden, Scott Teasdale

View more