Bipolar Disorder News and Research

Latest Bipolar Disorder News and Research

Discovery of molecular mechanism that alters strength of higher brain network connections

Yale School of Medicine and University of Crete School of Medicine researchers report in Cell April 20 the first evidence of a molecular mechanism that dynamically alters the strength of higher brain network connections.

21 Apr 2007

Lithium increases gray matter in bipolar brains

Neuroscientists at UCLA have shown that lithium, long the standard treatment for bipolar disorder, increases the amount of gray matter in the brains of patients with the illness.

11 Apr 2007

Eslicarbazepine shows promise for treating epileptic seizures

A new study appearing in the latest issue of Epilepsia shows that a new drug called Eslicarbazepine (ESL) shows promise as a treatment for epilepsy patients whose symptoms remain uncontrolled with existing medications.

7 Apr 2007

Effectiveness of psychosocial treatments for bipolar disorder

This is a follow up study to one released last Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine on the effects of antidepressants in the treatment of bipolar disorder. Both studies, called STEP-BD, were funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

4 Apr 2007

Intensive psychotherapy most effective for treating bipolar depression

Patients taking medications to treat bipolar disorder are more likely to get well faster and stay well if they receive intensive psychotherapy, according to results from the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD), funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

4 Apr 2007

Intensive therapy helps in battle against bipolar disorder

New results from the largest federally funded bipolar study ever conducted show that patients who receive psychotherapy in addition to medication get better faster from bipolar disorder's debilitating depression and stay better longer, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder researcher involved in the study.

4 Apr 2007

Treatment options for bipolar disorder

For depressed people with bipolar disorder who are taking a mood stabilizer, adding an antidepressant medication is no more effective than a placebo (sugar pill), according to results published online on March 28, 2007 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

1 Apr 2007

Circadian genes may be involved in bipolar disorder

Disrupt the gene that regulates the biological clocks in mice and they become manic, exhibiting behaviors similar to humans with bipolar disorder, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

25 Mar 2007

Genetic tendency toward suicide linked to genome on chromosome 2

A Johns Hopkins-led study has found evidence that a genetic tendency toward suicide has been linked to a particular area of the genome on chromosome 2 that has been implicated in two additional recent studies of attempted suicide.

20 Feb 2007

Severely mentally ill have increased risk of death from coronary heart disease and stroke

A large British study indicates that individuals with severe mental illnesses are significantly more likely to die from coronary heart disease and stroke, but not cancer, than those without mental illnesses, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry.

6 Feb 2007

Childhood abuse could significantly increase the risk of psychosis in later life

Using data from a large American epidemiological mental health survey, based on a nationally representative sample of over 5000 people, Dr Mark Shevlin and Dr Gary Adamson found that social and environmental factors, such as childhood abuse, could significantly increase the risk of psychosis in later life.

23 Jan 2007

Experts say "schizophrenia label" a harmful concept which should be dropped

British mental health experts say the term schizophrenia should abandoned as it has little scientific validity, and is imprecise and stigmatizing.

From The University of Manchester 10 Oct 2006

Hospital services most expensive part of U.S. health aystem

About 33% of every dollar spent on U.S. health care goes toward inpatient hospital care, according to a report by HHS's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Washington Times reports (Howard Price, Washington Times, 9/23).

26 Sep 2006

Bipolar disorder costs twice as much in lost productivity as major depressive disorder

Bipolar disorder costs twice as much in lost productivity as major depressive disorder, a study funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has found. Each U.S. worker with bipolar disorder averaged 65.5 lost workdays in a year, compared to 27.2 for major depression.

4 Sep 2006

Mood swings and depression appear to be related to cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and affective disorders are both very prevalent in the general population.

1 Sep 2006

fMRI shows "gambling" structures in the brain

From gamblers playing blackjack to investors picking stocks, humans make a wide range of decisions that require gauging risk versus reward.

2 Aug 2006

High rates of off-label prescriptions for antidepressant, anticonvulsant and antipsychotic drugs

A University of Georgia study has found that three-quarters of people prescribed antidepressant drugs receive the medications for a reason not approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration.

26 Jul 2006

Hallucinogen in mushrooms creates mystical/spiritual experiences

Using unusually rigorous scientific conditions and measures, Johns Hopkins researchers have shown that the active agent in "sacred mushrooms" can induce mystical/spiritual experiences descriptively identical to spontaneous ones people have reported for centuries.

11 Jul 2006

Fat and clever and rich - equals depression

Major depression is a leading cause of disability globally and according to American researchers people who are obese are more at risk of suffering from a psychiatric disorder.

4 Jul 2006

Obesity associated with psychiatric disorders

Obesity is associated with a 25 percent increase in the risk of developing mood and anxiety disorders and a 25 percent decrease in likeliness for substance abuse.

4 Jul 2006