CASE REPORT article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychological Therapy and Psychosomatics
This article is part of the Research TopicNeuroimmune and metabolic pathways influencing psychiatric and physical well-beingView all articles
Hallucinations during bipolar depressive episode treated with bupropion after alcohol withdrawal surgery: A Case Report
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Psychiatry, School of Mental Health, Jining Medical University, Jining, China
- 2Xingtai People's Hospital, Xingtai, China
- 3Chengde Medical University, Chengde, China
- 4Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China
- 5Shandong University, Jinan, China
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Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is a prevalent condition often co-occurring with affective disorders. Bupropion, a medication used to treat affective disorders, acts by inhibiting dopamine (DA) and norepinephrine (NE) reuptake, potentially helping to alleviate emotional dysregulation. However, the risk of delirium in AUD patients at therapeutic doses is poorly understood, despite reports linking bupropion overdose to delirium. We report here a rare case of a 49-year-old Chinese male with AUD who developed mood disturbances and relapsed following alcohol detoxification surgery. He was diagnosed with 1. Bipolar II Disorder, Current Depressive Episode, Severe Without Psychotic Features; 2. Harmful Pattern of Alcohol Use. During inpatient treatment, the patient received a combination of medications, including bupropion. Delirium and behavioral disturbances appeared after bupropion initiation but resolved upon its discontinuation. These symptoms recurred when bupropion was reintroduced and resolved again after stopping the medication. After discharge, no further bupropion was used, and the patient remained symptom-free at a one-month follow-up. This case suggests that bupropion may trigger delirium in AUD patients with a history of alcohol withdrawal surgery, underscoring the importance of careful medication selection and personalized treatment in complex cases.
Keywords: alcohol use disorder, Alcohol withdrawal surgery, Amygdala, Bipolar II disorder, Bupropion
Received: 20 Nov 2025; Accepted: 09 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Kong, Cao, Han, Dong and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xu Chen
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