Marijuana is the most widely used illicit substance in those diagnosed with bipolar I disorder. However, there is conflicting evidence as to whether marijuana may alleviate or exacerbate mood symptomatology. As bipolar disorder and marijuana use are individually associated with cognitive impairment, it also remains unclear whether there is an additive effect on cognition when bipolar patients u...

We examined the possibility that mood and anxiety disorders may “scar” problem-solving attitudes and outlook on life (e.g., erode optimistic feelings). Participants with high rates of both current and past mood and anxiety disorders were assessed. Results suggested that previous bipolar disorder might leave negative problem-solving attitudes and hopelessness scars, whereas major depression and ...

BACKGROUND Although children of bipolar parents are at heightened risk for developing emotional disorders, the processes underlying this vulnerability are not well understood. This study examined biases in the processing of emotional stimuli as a potential vulnerability marker of bipolar disorder. METHODS Sixteen children of bipolar parents who did not show any indication of having an emotion...

background: bipolar mood disorder (bmd) is a type of mood disorder which is associated with various disabilities. the family members of the patients with bmd experience many difficulties and pressures during the periods of treatment, rehabilitation and recovery and their quality of life (qol) is threatened. in the present study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of family-centered education on me...

BACKGROUND Abnormalities in prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices are implicated in disturbances of attention, cognition, and impulse regulation in bipolar disorder. Acute episodes have been associated with dysfunction in these brain regions, and more enduring trait-related dysfunction has been implicated by volumetric and cellular abnormalities in these regions. The relative contributions...

Seasonal variation of manic and depressive symptoms is a controversial topic in bipolar disorder research. Several studies report seasonal patterns of hospital admissions for depression and mania and variation in symptoms that appear to follow a seasonal pattern, whereas others fail to report such patterns. Differences in research methodologies, data analysis strategies, and temporal resolution...

BACKGROUND AND METHODS This study aimed to determine time to relapse and remission of mood episodes in Thai patients with bipolar disorder (BD). The Thai Bipolar Disorder Registry was a multicenter, prospective, naturalistic, observational study conducted in Thailand. Participants were adult inpatients or outpatients with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders bipolar disorder. T...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to translate the Structured Clinical Interview for Mood Spectrum into Brazilian Portuguese, measuring its reliability, validity, and defining scores for bipolar disorders. METHOD Questionnaire was translated (into Brazilian Portuguese) and back-translated into English. Sample consisted of 47 subjects with bipolar disorder, 47 with major depressive disorder,...

In recent times, a public awareness of bipolar disorder has spread through the internet, radio and television shows such as MTV’s ‘True Life: I’m Bipolar’, and BBC’s ‘The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive’. The latter was first shown in 2006 and repeated in 2007. It presented the public with an honest portrayal of what it is like to have bipolar disorder. Actor and comedian Stephen Fry, himse...

OBJECTIVE To explore the measurement of subsyndromal mood symptoms in relation to studies of maintenance therapy for bipolar disorder. METHODS Literature review of the Medline database using the following selection criteria: (1) 'bipolar disorder' plus 'inter-episode or interepisode or subsyndromal or subclinical or residual or subthreshold' and (2) 'bipolar disorder' plus 'maintenance or pro...