Studies conducted by Doughty et al. (2004) suggest that panic disorders, potentially exacerbated by the panic-inducing qualities of drug usage, are significantly associated with bi-polar disease, and Long finds that panic disorders are generationally related to bi-polar. Therefore, the well-known panic- and anxiety-related effects of drug usage have been shown to be related to bipolar disorder, so that both diseases correlate. Further, chemical responses that drive the bi-polar are complicated by the chemical effects of drug addiction, making treatment difficult to sort out. The associated risk of suicide, already high with sufferers of bi-polar disorder, is heightened. Care and treatment, both physical and mental, must be approached in an integrated fashion.

Drug and chemical treatments for dual diagnosis patients have attempted to sort out the effects of each disorder. However, because the brain centers that are impacted by drug abuse and addiction are often driven by the same or similar...
[ View Full Essay]