I'm looking for research around changes in mental illness based on age/developmental stage (from early adulthood on). I have a hypothesis that expression/experience of symptoms of what we call MI change over time based on (most likely) hormone changes, life circumstance, development of maturity, wisdom and coping skills, etc., but haven't seen any research that addresses this specifically. In some sense this seems obvious, yet it doesn't, to my knowledge, seem addressed in research on SMI. For example, Marsha Linehan, diagnosed early on with BPD, but would no longer meet the criteria today for that diagnosis. How do we explain this? Or others, who have done well managing their bipolar disorder through non-medication related means, (ME Copeland interviewed ppl for her workbooks, and in developing WRAP). Any ideas or thoughts welcome, and if you know of specific research on this topic, please share.
There is literature on menopausal changes and how it can impact mood disorders. This represents hormonal changes which can also occur with pregnancy and postpartum periods. I see many women with hormonal shifts that have postpartum mood and anxiety disorders as well. You can also see a rise in MI in older adults and elderly men represent the highest risk of suicides.
Have you considered looking at the DSM. It offers statistics on onset of all mental illness disorders.
Treatment, ideally, lessens or stops the symptoms being experienced. You mentioned a number of things that can impact this. Perhaps effective treatments play a role here.
I read this great research looking at diagnosing differences. The study looked at graduate students who were doing clinical training. It examined how, if at all, diagnosis varied between clinicians. I think it was done by Niles, PhD. Perhaps there is a part of this phenomena that is about the diagnosis provided by the clinician?
Really interesting research!
