The finding that bipolar disorder also was associated with more days of use in the period of heaviest cocaine use also suggests that bipolar disorder should be carefully assessed with cocaine dependent individuals. With comorbid cocaine dependence and bipolar disorder, targeted psychotherapy has been found to be effective (Weiss et al., 2007), and open-label lamotrigine has shown promising results (Brown et al., 2006). Thus, identifying cocaine dependent persons bipolar disorder comorbidity also may lead to enhanced treatment planning and outcomes.
