BACKGROUND Offspring of parents with bipolar disorder, by virtue of their high-risk status for developing bipolar disorder, merit an investigation of the efficacy of treatment with mood stabilizers. Behavioral and mood difficulties in this population may represent prodromal forms of bipolar disorder. We studied the efficacy of divalproex in treating child and adolescent bipolar offspring with m...

Cyclothymic disorder is a chronic and impairing subtype of bipolar disorder, largely neglected in pediatric research. Consequently, it is rarely diagnosed clinically despite potentially being the most prevalent form of bipolar disorder. Lack of attention has added to confusion about the diagnosis and clinical presentation of cyclothymic disorder. In pediatric studies, cyclothymic disorder is co...

OBJECTIVE Point mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are one mechanism that could explain the apparent excess maternal transmission of bipolar affective disorder observed in some families. The authors sequenced the mtDNA from probands with bipolar disorder and tested nucleotide variants for association with the disorder. METHOD The entire 16.5 kilobase mitochondrial genome was sequenced in ...

The reduction of hippocampal volume was frequently reported in schizophrenia, but not in bipolar disorder This volume reduction is associated with clinical features of schizophrenia, in particular with working and verbal memory impairments. Schizoaffective disorder, as a specific disorder sharing clinical features of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder is rarely analyzed as a separate disor...

Treatments for brain dysfunction have relied traditionally on medication-based approaches. Non-invasive transcranial electric stimulation (tES) approaches such as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) offer an alternative approach for psychiatric treatment. In this approach, low level (1–2 mA) currents are applied over appropriate...

BACKGROUND This study investigated the usefulness of self-report scales for detecting bipolar disorder in several settings. METHODS Study 1 developed a short form of the Hypomanic Personality Scale (the HPS-6) based on clinic/community and undergraduate samples. Study 2 used this scale for recruiting participants with bipolar disorder from the community. Study 3 administered the full-length H...

BACKGROUND Bipolar disorder and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) overlap in clinical characteristics and behavioral consequences. Impulsivity is prominent in both, but there is little information on how specific mechanisms of impulsivity differentiate, bridge, or underlie the disorders. METHODS Subjects, all males, were controls (n = 46), bipolar disorder without cluster B personality d...

Bipolar disorder affects many aspects of an individual's life and greatly interferes with a person's ability to find and maintain employment. The evidence indicates that a majority of patients with bipolar disorder are not employed and many others are employed only part time. Job-related difficulties are common, and patients with bipolar disorder tend to have higher rates of absenteeism from wo...

Background: Mood elevation is common in adolescents and young adults. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of a bipolar diagnosis and co-morbidity in individuals identified by online screening for experience of (hypo)manic symptoms in order to better define the common bipolar phenotype in young people. Methods: Survey data regarding experience of (hypo)manic symptoms and occu...