The impact of bipolar disorder on personal life and employment was clearly shown by the survey results: Fully 60 percent of affected people considered suicide at least once. Roughly 60 percent of affected people and nearly 75 percent of their partners stated that the condition had led to relationship problems. About 40 percent of patients and 10 percent of partners reported losing a job or a job promotion because of bipolar disorder.

The difficulty in diagnosing and treating bipolar disorder was also evident in survey findings. Roughly 75 percent of patients stated that they were originally misdiagnosed after initial presentation of symptoms, often for durations up to one year. Over 20 percent of respondents reported that they had stopped drug treatment due to side effects.

Rodney Elgie, president of the Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy Networks, said "This report provides further evidence of the need to bring bipolar disorder to the attention of healthcare professionals and the wider community. I hope these results will drive action in the form of timely recognition of symptoms, faster diagnosis, and access to appropriate treatment."

John Cookson, M.D., a consultant psychiatrist from Great Britain, said "This report underlines the need of people with bipolar disorder to have access to effective treatments that are not associated with some of the side effects common with older therapies. Since this survey was conducted, a treatment option has become available [in Europe] to help us meet these needs and vastly improve the lives of our patients and those close to them," alluding to approval from the European Union for the use of an atypical antipsychotic agent, olanzapine, for treatment of moderate to severe manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder.