Emotion recognition problematic for BD youth
By Mark Cowen, Senior medwireNews Reporter Children with bipolar disorder (BD) are less able to identify certain facial expressions of emotion than other children, research shows. Stewart Shankman and colleagues from the University of Illinois in Chicago, USA, found that pediatric patients with BD misidentified sad, fearful, and neutral faces significantly more often than children [...]
Study shows how NCAN gene results in manic symptoms of bipolar disorder
Flying high, or down in the dumps – individuals suffering from bipolar disorder alternate between depressive and manic episodes. Researchers from the University of Bonn and the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim have now discovered, based on patient data and animal models, how the NCAN gene results in the manic symptoms of bipolar [...]
Flying high: Researchers decipher manic gene
Flying high, or down in the dumps — individuals suffering from bipolar disorder alternate between depressive and manic episodes. Researchers from the University of Bonn and the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim have now discovered, based on patient data and animal models, how the NCAN gene results in the manic symptoms of bipolar [...]
Duration of untreated bipolar disorder ‘too long’
By Mark Cowen, Senior medwireNews Reporter The mean duration of untreated bipolar disorder (DUB) is “unacceptably” long, say French researchers who report that an increased duration is associated with more mood episodes, more suicidal behavior, and greater mood instability. In a study of 501 French patients with the mood disorder, Bruno Etain (Hôpital Albert Chenevier, [...]
Bipolar disorder and creativity are linked (but not by some mad genius)
Does some fine madness yield great artists, writers, and scientists? The evidence is growing for a significant link between bipolar disorder and creative temperament and achievement. People with bipolar disorder swing repeatedly from depression to euphoria and hyperactivity, or intensely irritable mood states. Sometimes likened to being on an emotional rollercoaster, each swing up then [...]
Jesse Jackson Jr. Has Bipolar Disorder, Mayo Clinic Says
U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., a Chicago Democrat who took a hushed medical leave two months ago, is being treated for bipolar disorder, the Mayo Clinic announced Monday. The Rochester, Minn.-based clinic specified his condition as bipolar II, which is defined as periodic episodes of depression and hypomania, a less serious form of mania. “Congressman [...]
Brain response to emotion altered in BD youth
By Mark Cowen Results from a US study show that adolescents with bipolar disorder (BD) have altered activation in certain brain regions in response to facial expressions of emotion. Furthermore, the researchers found that adolescents with the mood disorder exhibited problems processing and/or disengaging attention from facial expressions of emotion compared with their mentally healthy [...]
Impulsivity increased in siblings of BD I patients
By Mark Cowen Patients with bipolar I disorder (BD I) and their unaffected siblings show increased levels of impulsivity, researchers report. The team found that BD I patients had significantly higher total scores on the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, version 11 (BIS-11) than unrelated mentally healthy controls, as well as higher scores on all three BIS-11 [...]
BD II patients show altered brain activity during emotion processing
By Mark Cowen Depressed patients with bipolar II disorder (BD II) show reduced activation and altered connectivity in brain regions associated with working memory and emotional learning, US researchers report. “While the amygdala hypoactivation observed in BD II depression is opposite to the direction seen in BD I mania and may therefore be state dependent, [...]
Substance use linked to poor memory, reasoning in BD
By Mark Cowen The presence of comorbid substance use disorder (SUD) is associated with significantly poorer visual memory and conceptual reasoning skills in patients with bipolar disorder (BD), US study results show. Furthermore, the researchers found that BD patients with and without a SUD had significantly poorer cognition in most domains compared with mentally healthy [...]
