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SYDNEY, July 26 (Xinhua)-- A new Australian study has found that crucial opportunities to manage bipolar disorder early are lost because individuals wait as long as six years before being properly diagnosed and given the right treatment.
The study conducted by the University of New South Wales with an Italian research center said the findings were discovered after having interviewed more than 9,000 bipolar patients from 27 studies.
"This is a lost opportunity because the severity and frequency of episodes can be reduced with medication and other interventions," the research lead author Professor Matthew Large said in a statement on Tuesday.
Large, a psychiatrist at the Prince of Wales Hospital, said the delay is longer for youngsters as moodiness is sometimes mistaken by parents and doctors as the ups and downs of the teenager's life rather than the emergence of bipolar disorder.
"While some patients, particularly those who present with psychosis, probably do receive timely treatment, the diagnosis of the early phase of bipolar disorder can be difficult,"Large said.
"This is because mental health clinicians are sometimes unable to distinguish the depressed phase of bipolar disorder from other types of depression.
"The diagnosis of bipolar disorder can also be missed because it relies on a detailed life history and corroborative information from carers and family, information that takes time and care to gather."
The study said a more consistent approach in recording bipolar disorder symptoms in the future can minimize the risk of delaying treatment to the right patients.
