Bipolar By the Numbers

Bipolar disorder is no respecter of persons. It cuts across socioeconomic, race, ethnicity, and educational lines. However, my psychologist told me that her patients with bipolar disorder tend to be very intelligent, though they’re not always accomplished. She pointed me to a research article (Bipolar disorder linked to high intelligence) that appeared in BioNews. (24 August 2015) “A high childhood IQ is linked to an increased risk of bipolar disorder in adulthood, according to new research published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.”

How common is bipolar disorder? The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates this illness affects about 45 million people worldwide.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) provides these statistics:

• Every year bipolar disorder affects approximately 5.7 million adult Americans, or about 2.6% of the U.S. population age 18 and older.

• The median age of onset for bipolar disorder is 25 years, although the illness can start in early childhood or as late as the 40’s and 50’s.

• An equal number of men and women develop bipolar illness and it is found in all ages, races, ethnic groups and social classes.

• More than two-thirds of people with bipolar disorder have at least one close relative with the illness or with unipolar major depression, indicating that the disease has a heritable component.

• Bipolar disorder results in 9.2 years reduction in expected life span, and as many as one in five patients with bipolar disorder completes suicide.

According to WHO, bipolar disorder is the sixth leading cause of disability in the world. (World Health Organization)

In the United States and Canada, at least 40 percent of all marriages fail. But the statistics for marriages involving a person who has bipolar disorder are especially sobering—an estimated 90 percent of these end in divorce, according to a November 2003 article in Psychology Today (“Managing Bipolar Disorder”)

CDC says "Mental illnesses are among the most common health conditions in the United States.

• More than 50% will be diagnosed with a mental illness or disorder at some point in their lifetime.

• 1 in 5 Americans will experience a mental illness in a given year.

• 1 in 5 children, either currently or at some point during their life, have had a seriously debilitating mental illness.

• 1 in 25 Americans lives with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression."