Steroid-induced neuropsychiatric sequelae are common, and pose significant risks to people usually receiving glucocorticoids in the context of physical illness. Steroid-induced mania and hypomania are the most common of the acute complications, yet despite great progress in understandings in neurophysiology there are no recent studies which review the factors which might predict who will experience this severe complication, nor are there consensus guidelines on management. We report the unusual case of a woman in her 50s admitted to a psychiatric unit with steroid-induced mania despite compliance with two mood stabilisers, several days after the administration of a Dexamethasone and Docetaxel chemotherapy regime adjunctive to lumpectomy for breast cancer. She had previously been diagnosed with an organic affective disorder (with classical bipolar 1 pattern) following severe ventriculitis related to ventricular drain insertion for obstructive hydrocephalus secondary to a colloid cyst. She had no psychiatric illness before this brain injury, but has a maternal history of idiopathic bipolar 1 affective disorder. Her episode of steroid-induced mania resolved following use of sedative medications, continuation of her existing mood stabilisers, and reductions of the steroid dosing in collaboration with her oncology team, which also protected her from further manic relapses during continued chemotherapy. Established mental illness, a family history, and acquired brain injury may reflect risk factors for steroid-induced mania through currently unclear pathways. Future epidemiological studies could better confirm these observations, and basic neuroscience may look to further explore the role of extrinsic glucocorticoids in the pathophysiology of affective disorders.
