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All UK prescribers must screen for Bipolar before prescribing antidepressants.

Submitted on Thursday 7th January 2021

Rejected on Thursday 14th January 2021

Current status: Rejected

Rejection code: irrelevant (see below for details)

Petition Action

All UK prescribers must screen for Bipolar before prescribing antidepressants.

Petition Details

In 2017 to 2018, 17% of the adult population were prescribed antidepressants, that's 7.3 million people.

People with undiagnosed bipolar often present to doctors during an episode of depression and are prescribed antidepressants as monotherapy without being adequately screened for bipolarity.

Additional Information

Antidepressants can be very harmful to those on the bipolar spectrum often triggering rapid cycling and manic episodes.

It takes an average 9 years to get a correct diagnosis of bipolar and there is a misdiagnosis an average of 3.5 times.

1% to 2% of the population experience a lifetime prevalence of bipolar and recent research suggests as many as 5% of us are on the bipolar spectrum.

Too many people with bipolar are suffering unnecessarily, whilst missing out on the vital treatment needed.


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This petition was rejected

The Government e-Petitions Team gave the following reason:

The diagnosis and prescription of treatment for patients is a matter for individual clinicians, not the Government or House of Commons.

We could accept a petition calling for the Government to commission a review of diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder, if that is something you want to happen.

Have your say on this petition!

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