BACKGROUND Despite the use of mood stabilizers, a significant proportion of patients with bipolar affective disorder experience frequent relapses. A pilot study of cognitive therapy (CT) specifically designed to prevent relapses for bipolar affective disorder showed encouraging results when used in conjunction with mood stabilizers. This article reports the outcome of a randomized controlled st...

This paper reviews some of the compelling evidence of disrupted circadian rhythms in individuals with mood disorders (major depressive disorder, seasonal affective disorder, and bipolar disorder) and that treatments such as bright light, designed to alter circadian rhythms, are effective in treating these disorders. Neurotransmitters in brain regions implicated in mood regulation exhibit circad...

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...

Axis I comorbidity is associated with greater severity of social anxiety disorder. However, the differential effects of comorbid mood and anxiety disorders on symptom severity or treatment outcome have not been investigated. We evaluated 69 persons with uncomplicated social anxiety disorder, 39 persons with an additional anxiety disorder, and 33 persons with an additional mood disorder (with or...

Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder that is characterized by episodes of mania or hypomania that often alternate with episodes of depression. Bipolar disorder is also referred to as manic-depressive disorder and bipolar affective disorder. This potentially disabling mood disorder has a lifetime prevalence of 4% in the US population (Ketter, 2010). According to the National Institute of Mental H...

OBJECTIVE To assess the co-morbidity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and other anxiety disorders in child and adolescent mood disorders. METHODS A total of 100 patients aged < 18 years with mood disorders according to the DSM-IV-TR were screened for OCD and other anxiety disorders using Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime vers...