Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. Symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe.

Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a mental health disorder that was previously called manic depressive psychosis or manic depression. The condition is typically characterized by a mood that "swings" from a depressive state where an individual may feel down and lethargic to a manic phase that may cause them to feel hyperactive and jittery.

Bipolar Disorder Symptoms

Bipolar Disorder Diagnosis

Bipolar Disorder Treatment

Bipolar Disorder Interventions

Bipolar Disorder Counseling

Intermittent Explosive Disorder Causes

Latest Bipolar Disorder News and Research

Exploring ketamine's potential in the fight against treatment-resistant depression

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of disability worldwide, with a significant proportion of patients (10-20%) progressing to treatment-resistant depression (TRD).

19 Feb 2025

Genetic mutation linked to schizophrenia in both humans and mice

A genetic mutation found in two human patients with schizophrenia also increased schizophrenia-related behaviors in mice with the same mutation, a rare finding of a direct genetic link to psychosis, report researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and colleagues in Massachusetts and Germany.

19 Feb 2025

Deny and delay? California seeks penalties for insurers that repeatedly get it wrong

When Colleen Henderson's 3-year-old daughter complained of pain while using the bathroom, doctors brushed it off as a urinary tract infection or constipation, common maladies in the potty-training years.

18 Feb 2025

Study identifies novel enhancers linked to neuropsychiatric disorders

Neuropsychiatric disorders are becoming increasingly prevalent. Given their complex and multifactorial pathogenesis, there is an urgent need for effective and targeted therapies that can improve patients' quality of life.

13 Feb 2025

Mental health drives med student dropout rate

Around 1 in 5 UK medical students considers dropping out of medical school, with mental health issues a key contributor to their intention to abandon medicine, suggest the results of an observational study published in the open access journal BMJ Open.

11 Feb 2025

UCLA Health launches study on ketogenic diet for bipolar disorder in youth

UCLA Health is set to begin a multi-site pilot study to explore whether a ketogenic diet, when combined with mood stabilizing medications, helps stabilize mood symptoms in teenagers and young adults who have bipolar disorder.

8 Feb 2025

Study aims to explore structural alterations in the brains of people with bipolar disorder

A new study, led by USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI), will explore structural alterations in the brains of people with bipolar disorder (BD), a chronic mental illness with one of the highest rates of attempted suicide - and for which no biological tools currently exist to guide diagnosis or treatment.

29 Jan 2025

Study offers new insight into how nature and nurture shape aggression in males

Like humans, mice will compete over territory and mates, and show increased confidence in their fighting skills the more they win.

24 Jan 2025

New genomic insights could transform bipolar disorder treatment

Study published in Nature identifies nearly 300 genomic regions associated with bipolar disorder, and 36 key genes involved in the disease.

23 Jan 2025

Mental health risks higher for pregnant people with MS

Pregnant people with multiple sclerosis (MS) have a higher chance of experiencing mental illness both during their pregnancy and in the first years after they give birth than those without MS, according to a study published in the January 22, 2025 online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

22 Jan 2025

Monoamine neurotransmitters emerge as architects of brain physiology

A collaborative effort between Mount Sinai and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has shed valuable light on how monoamine neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine, and now histamine help regulate brain physiology and behavior through chemical bonding of these monoamines to histone proteins, the core DNA-packaging proteins of our cells.

9 Jan 2025

Lithium shows promise as a potential therapy for autism spectrum disorder

A groundbreaking discovery has highlighted lithium - a drug long used to treat bipolar disorder and depression - as a potential therapy for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

23 Dec 2024

Study finds facial shape differences linked to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

A study published in Psychiatry Research identifies subtle differences in facial shapes that may be linked to the diagnosis of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

19 Dec 2024

Depression genes amplify women's heart disease risk

Study reveals a sex-specific link between genetic risks for psychiatric disorders and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), with women showing a higher risk of atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, and heart failure linked to genetic predisposition to major depression. Menopause and modifiable factors like BMI and smoking amplify these risks.

8 Dec 2024

Study links combined risk factors for aggressive behavior in men with CTE

People who have chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) who have a family history of mental illness may have a higher risk of aggression in middle age, according to a study published in the November 27, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

27 Nov 2024

New funding expands study of brain changes in bipolar disorder

Leila Nabulsi, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in computational neuroscience at the Keck School of Medicine of USC's Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI) has received funding to expand research on the neurocircuitry that underlies bipolar disorder.

25 Nov 2024

Predicting mood episodes with sleep data: A breakthrough for mental health care

Researchers developed a machine-learning model that uses only sleep-wake patterns to predict mood episodes in patients with mood disorders, achieving high accuracy. This approach simplifies real-world mental health monitoring using data from wearables or smartphones.

21 Nov 2024

Exploring the intergenerational impact of adversity on mind-body health

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF) is hosting a free webinar, "Intergenerational Effects of Adversity on Mind-Body Health: Pathways Through the Gut-Brain Axis" on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, at 2:00 pm ET. The presenter, Bridget Laura Callaghan, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). At UCLA, Dr. Callaghan directs the Brain & Body Lab in the Department of Psychology and also heads the Mental Disorders and Pain research theme at the Goodman Luskin Microbiome Center.

8 Nov 2024

New technology for visualizing AMPA receptors offers insights into psychiatric disorders

Even though psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are quite common, their diagnosis and treatment are challenging.

5 Nov 2024

Study links schizophrenia to increased risk of sudden cardiac death

The lifetime risk of an unexpected and sudden death from a cardiovascular cause in the absence of pre-existing heart disease - known as sudden cardiac death - is more than 4 times higher for people with schizophrenia than it is for the general population, indicates Danish research published online in the journal Heart.

22 Oct 2024