A family-based prevention program designed to help adolescents avoid substance use and other risky behavior proved especially effective for a group of young teens with a genetic risk factor contributing toward such behavior, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Georgia. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), components of the National Institutes of Health, supported the study, which appears in the May/June issue of Child Development.

I am 33 and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder about 3 years ago (1998), around the same time I went into rehab for alcohol abuse. I have Bipolar II and, according to my psychiatrist, cycle much faster than the majority of people in that category. I was told in rehab that as many as half the people who come in for alcohol abuse have bipolar. It’s only natural that a thirteen-year-old with bipolar would try to quiet his mind or get to sleep using alcohol, as I did.