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 chemical deficiencies existent in bi-polar chemical deficiencies, there is a need for research related to drug-based treatments that specifically address dual diagnosis patients. Some promising findings exist in the literature. For example, Whitten (2008) writes of a study conducted by two research scientists who administered the drug Aripiprazole to rats who were addicted to cocaine. (This drug is used with severe bi-polar patients to treatment manic and antipsychotic episodes.) The rats who took the drug were less likely to self-administer cocaine. The study showed that the rats were not immune to seeking other types of rewards, such as food-based rewards, but they were less likely to seek the drug rewards of self-medication. This was because the therapeutic drug helped achieve...

This study, in other words, showed that a drug which addresses the neurochemical balances necessary in the brain to avoid the manic and psychotic episodes of bi-polar, also addresses the brain's chemical balances associated with healthy functioning in drug addicts, that allows patients to avoid drug usage once addiction has upset the chemical balance. The brain's chemical balance can be treated, therefore, this one case, with a drug therapy that alleviates some effects of bi-polar and some tendencies of drug addiction.
More research is needed to determine co-therapeutic approaches to bi-polar and drug addiction. However, this study seems to indicate that, despite complications of co morbidity, integrated treatment is possible for patients having bipolar and drug addiction.

Works Cited

Doughty, C., Wells, J., Joyce, P., Olds, R., & Walsh, A. (2004). Bipolar-panic disorder comorbidity within bipolar disorder families: a study of siblings. Bipolar Disorders, 6(3), 245-252. doi:10.1111/j.1399-5618.2004.00120.x.

Long, M. (2005). Bipolar Disorders. Retrieved from http:/ / www.mentalhealth.com/dis/p20-md02.html. Internet Mental Health.

Michael's House. n.d. 10 important facts about dual diagnosis and bipolar disorder. Retrieved from http://www.michaelshouse.com/dual-dual-diagnosis/about-dual-diagnosis-bipolar-disorder.

Whitten, L. (2008). Aripiprazole prevents rats from resuming cocaine seeking. Nida Notes, 22(2), 4-5. Retrieved from CINAHL database.