This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
This post is part of a collaborative narrative series composed of my writing and Chris Arnade's photos exploring issues of addiction, poverty, prostitution and urban anthropology in Hunts Point, Bronx. For more on the series, look here.
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Background The association between stressful life events and onset of bipolar episodes is unclear. The association between bipolar episode onset and types of life events that disrupt social routines, and potentially sleep, has not yet been investigated.
Methods Thirty-nine bipolar patients with primarily manic (n=20) or depressed (n=19) index episodes were interviewed with the Bedford College Life Event and Difficulty Schedule to determine the presence of severe events during 8-week pre-onset and control periods. All life events were also rated for degree of social rhythm disruption (SRD).
Results More bipolar subjects experienced at least 1 SRD event and severe event in the pre-onset vs control periods. When subjects were divided into those with manic or depressive onsets, the only significant pre-onset vs control difference was for manic patients with SRD events. Additionally, the proportion of subjects with a pre-onset SRD event was greater for manic than for depressed patients.
Conclusions We found evidence that life events characterized by SRDs routines are associated with the onset of manic, but not depressive, episodes. Severe events seem to be related to onset of bipolar episodes, although it remains unclear whether severe events relate differentially to depressive and manic onsets.¹
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Pepsi: Hunts Point, Bronx. Courtesy of Chris Arnade.
This is a continuation to Pepsi, Part I.
Hell, Boy
In flames, everything.
That's what they say
you put them through,
Ash-sister. The streets
gorge on gossip.
Carbon ate the apartment
with the Barbie pink walls
where men came to buy
smoke and companion
and women kept
everyone well, spooning
Honeycomb cereal into
shared beds.
Does a fire's voice sound
like screaming from the dirt
poor friends who say you steal
their New Balance
sneakers? Enter bi-
polar fits to rage and to live
under the half-moon
skeleton bridge.
You are the Fragglewump
seen on sewage TV
in this mixed up
underworld they speak of.
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More Hunts Point Addiction Writing
Chris Arnade's Photos and his Facebook feed