Social functioning of bipolar offspring

Cortical alterations in relatives of patients with bipolar disorder: A review of magnetic resonance imaging studies

INTRODUCTION

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe mental disorder characterized by high heritability rates. Widespread brain cortical alterations have been reported in BD patients, mostly involving the frontal, temporal and parietal regions. Importantly, also unaffected relatives of BD patients (BD-RELs) present abnormalities in cortical measures, which are not influenced by disease-related factors, such as medication use and illness duration. Here, we collected all available evidence on cortical measures in BD-RELs to further our knowledge on the potential cortical alterations associated with the vulnerability and the resilience to BD.

METHODS

A search on PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus was performed to identify neuroimaging studies exploring cortical alterations in BD-RELs, including cortical thickness (CT), surface area (SA), gyrification (GI) and cortical complexity. Eleven studies were included. Of these, five assessed CT, five examined CT and SA and one explored CT, SA and GI.

RESULTS

Overall, a heterogeneous pattern of cortical alterations emerged. The areas more consistently linked with genetic liability for BD were the prefrontal and sensorimotor regions. Mixed evidence was reported in the temporal and cingulate areas.

LIMITATIONS

The small sample size and the heterogeneity in terms of methodologies and the characteristics of the participants limit the generalizability of our results.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that the genetic liability for BD is related to reduced CT in the prefrontal cortex, which might be a marker of risk for BD, and increased CT within the sensorimotor cortex, which could represent a marker of resilience.

Functional outcomes across development in offspring of parents with bipolar disorder

OBJECTIVE

Whereas the risk and course of psychopathology in offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (BD) have been the primary focus of high-risk offspring studies to date, functional outcomes have not been given much attention. We present a systematic review of functional outcomes and quality of life (QoL) across development in offspring of parents with BD and aim to explore the role of offspring psychopathology in these outcomes.

METHOD

We searched Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Cochrane Central, and Google Scholar from inception to June 24, 2022, for studies referring to functional outcomes (global, social, academic or occupational) or QoL in offspring of parents with BD.

RESULTS

From the 6470 records identified, 39 studies were retained (global = 17; social = 17; school = 16; occupational = 3; QoL = 5), including 13 studies that examined multiple domains. For all domains, high heterogeneity was found in study methods and quality. Only 56 % of studies adjusted for offspring psychopathology, impeding interpretation. Global and social functioning generally seemed to be impaired among older offspring (>16 years). Academic performance appeared to be unaffected. School behavior, occupational functioning, and QoL showed mixed results. Offspring psychopathology is associated with social functioning, but the relationship of offspring psychopathology with other domains is less clear.

CONCLUSION

Studies on functional outcome in offspring of parents with BD show predominantly mixed results. Inconsistent adjustment of psychopathology and age limits conclusive interpretation. Functional outcomes should be prioritized as research topics in high-risk studies and the potential associations between familial risk status, offspring psychopathology, and age may inform prevention strategies.

Development of social functioning in preadolescent children at familial high-risk of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder - a 4-year follow-up study from age 7 to 11

Social functioning is a major indicator of psychosis risk and evidence is lacking regarding social functioning development during preadolescence in children at familial high risk of schizophrenia (FHR-SZ) or bipolar disorder (FHR-BP). We aimed to investigate development of social functioning from age 7 to 11 in children at FHR-SZ or FHR-BP compared with population-based controls. At 4-year follow-up, 179 children at FHR-SZ (mean age 12.0 y, SD 0.3), 105 children at FHR-BP (mean age 11.9 y, SD 0.2), and 181 controls (mean age 11.9 y, SD 0.2) participated. We used the Vineland-II to measure social functioning. Development of social functioning was non-significantly different across groups on the Socialization Composite score as well as the subscales Interpersonal Relations, Play and Leisure, and Coping Skills. At 4-year follow-up, children at FHR-SZ demonstrated impaired social functioning, whereas children at FHR-BP displayed social functioning comparable to controls except from impaired coping skills. From age 7 to 11, the maturational pace of social functioning in children at FHR-SZ and FHR-BP is parallel to that of controls. Children at FHR-SZ show stable social functioning deficits, whereas children at FHR-BP show normal social functioning except from emergence of discretely impaired coping skills at age 11.

Development of social responsiveness and theory of mind in children of parents with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder

Social impairments are suggested as vulnerability markers for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Therefore, we investigated the development of social responsiveness and theory of mind (ToM) in children at familial high-risk of schizophrenia (FHR-SZ) or bipolar disorder (FHR-BP).

This study is part of The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study, a longitudinal cohort study of children at FHR-SZ or FHR-BP and population-based controls (PBC). Social responsiveness was measured with the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2), completed by teachers and primary caregivers. ToM was measured using The Animated Triangles Task (ATT). Both SRS-2 and ATT were applied at age 7 and 11. A total of 520 children participated (FHR-SZ, n = 201; FHR-BP, n = 119; PBC, n = 200).

Results showed no significant time by group interactions. At follow-up, children at FHR-SZ exhibited impaired social responsiveness compared with PBC regardless of the informant. At both timepoints, a higher proportion of children at FHR-SZ were rated at a clinically significant level, implying inference in everyday social interactions. Compared with PBC, primary caregivers reported impairments in social responsiveness in children at FHR-BP at follow-up. The three groups did not differ in ToM at follow-up.

Social responsiveness and ToM do not develop differently in children at FHR-SZ, FHR-BP and PBC from age 7 to 11, but impairments in social responsiveness remain stable and may constitute a vulnerability marker particularly in children at FHR-SZ, but also FHR-BP. ToM abilities seem to improve and remain intact, but ToM development and ToM task properties should be taken into consideration.

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No developmental differences in social abilities in children at familial high-risk

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Children at familial high-risk exhibit impaired social responsiveness.

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Social responsiveness impairments are detectable already at an early age.

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Impairments in social responsiveness may constitute a vulnerability marker.

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11-Year-olds at familial high-risk have intact theory of mind.

Accumulation of Disadvantages Across Multiple Domains Amongst Subgroups of Children of Parents With Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder: Clustering Data from the Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA 7

Objective

Children with familial high-risk of schizophrenia (FHR-SZ) or bipolar disorder (FHR-BP) are frequently affected in a range of domains known to be precursors of severe mental illness. No previous studies have gathered known precursors to examine whether they distribute evenly across familial high risk (FHR) children or if they cluster among a smaller group. Since such examination holds the potential to identify high and low risk of severe mental illness groups, we aimed to cluster FHR and control children affected to various degrees.

Method

In The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA 7, a clinical cohort study, 514 7-year-old children with FHR-SZ or FHR-BP and matched controls were assessed in domains of motor function, neurocognition, emotional control, behavior, social cognition, self-perception, language, psychotic experiences, and psychopathology, and grouped using cluster analysis. Associations between clusters and parents' level of education, functioning, caregiver status, child's level of stimulation and support in the home, and polygenic risk scores were examined.

Results

A total of four groups including one of broadly affected children were identified. The broadly affected group was represented 4-5-fold (18.1%) amongst FHR-SZ children and 2-3-fold (10.2%) amongst FHR-BP children, compared to controls (4.1%) (P < .001), and the broadly affected group had lower levels of caregiver functioning (P < .001) and stimulation and support at home (P < .001).

Conclusion

Precursors of severe mental illness distribute unevenly among FHR children; while approximately half are not affected in any domains, the other half are affected to various degrees. Targeted support towards the affected groups is indicated.

Emotion socialization in mothers with mood disorders: Affective modeling and recollected responses to childhood emotion

Growing evidence suggests that emotion socialization may be disrupted by maternal depression. However, little is known about emotion-related parenting by mothers with bipolar disorder or whether affective modeling in early childhood is linked to young adults' recollections of emotion socialization practices. The current study investigates emotion socialization by mothers with histories of major depression, bipolar disorder, or no mood disorder. Affective modeling was coded from parent-child interactions in early childhood and maternal responses to negative emotions were recollected by young adult offspring (n = 131, 59.5% female, M age = 22.16, SD = 2.58). Multilevel models revealed that maternal bipolar disorder was associated with more neglecting, punishing, and magnifying responses to children's emotions, whereas maternal major depression was associated with more magnifying responses; links between maternal diagnosis and magnifying responses were robust to covariates. Young adult recollections of maternal responses to emotion were predicted by affective modeling in early childhood, providing preliminary validity evidence for the Emotions as a Child Scale. Findings provide novel evidence that major depression and bipolar disorder are associated with altered emotion socialization and that maternal affective modeling in early childhood prospectively predicts young adults' recollections of emotion socialization in families with and without mood disorder.

Pre-pubertal bipolar disorder: origins and current status of the controversy

BACKGROUND

Evidence from epidemiological, clinical and high-risk studies has established that the peak period of risk for onset of bipolar disorder spans late adolescence and early adulthood. However, the proposal of the existence of a pre-pubertal form of bipolar disorder manifesting in early childhood created substantial debate. In this narrative review, the literature and contributing factors pertaining to the controversy surrounding the proposed pre-pubertal bipolar disorder subtype are discussed. The resolution of the debate and lessons learned are highlighted.

MAIN BODY

In the mid 1990s US researchers proposed that chronic irritability and explosive temper in pre-pubertal children with pre-existing ADHD and/or other learning and developmental disorders might represent a variant of mania. A number of factors contributed to this proposal including severely ill children with no diagnostic home given changes in the ADHD DSM diagnostic criteria and over-reliance on symptoms and structured interviews rather than on a clinical assessment incorporating developmental history, social context and clinical course. Prospective studies of children at high familial risk did not support the proposed pre-pubertal bipolar phenotype; but rather provided convergent evidence that bipolar disorder onset in adolescence and early adulthood not uncommonly preceded by sleep and internalizing symptoms and most often debuting as depression in adolescence (after puberty). Epidemiological studies of population and hospital discharge data provided evidence that the pre-pubertal bipolar phenotype was largely a US driven phenomenon.

CONCLUSIONS

Psychiatric diagnosis is particularly challenging given the current lack of objective biomarkers. However, validity and utility of clinical diagnoses can be strengthened if all available predictive information is used to formulate a diagnosis. As in other areas of medicine, critical information required to make a valid diagnosis includes developmental history, clinical course, family history and treatment response-weighed against the known trajectories of classical disorders. Moreover, given that psychiatric disorders are in evolution over childhood and adolescence and symptoms, in of themselves, are often non-specific, a thorough clinical assessment incorporating collateral history and psychosocial context is paramount. Such an approach might have avoided or at least brought a more timely resolution to the debate on pre-pubertal mania.

Social Cognition, Language, and Social Behavior in 7-Year-Old Children at Familial High-Risk of Developing Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder: The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA 7-A Population-Based Cohort Study

OBJECTIVE

To characterize social cognition, language, and social behavior as potentially shared vulnerability markers in children at familial high-risk of schizophrenia (FHR-SZ) and bipolar disorder (FHR-BP).

METHODS

The Danish High-Risk and Resilience Study VIA7 is a multisite population-based cohort of 522 7-year-old children extracted from the Danish registries. The population-based controls were matched to the FHR-SZ children on age, sex, and municipality. The FHR-BP group followed same inclusion criteria. Data were collected blinded to familial high-risk status. Outcomes were social cognition, language, and social behavior.

RESULTS

The analysis included 202 FHR-SZ children (girls: 46%), 120 FHR-BP children (girls: 46.7%), and 200 controls (girls: 46.5%). FHR-SZ children displayed significant deficits in language (receptive: d = -0.27, P = .006; pragmatic: d = -0.51, P < .001), social responsiveness (d = -0.54, P < .001), and adaptive social functioning (d = -0.47, P < .001) compared to controls after Bonferroni correction. Compared to FHR-BP children, FHR-SZ children performed significantly poorer on adaptive social functioning (d = -0.29, P = .007) after Bonferroni correction. FHR-BP and FHR-SZ children showed no significant social cognitive impairments compared to controls after Bonferroni correction.

CONCLUSION

Language, social responsiveness, and adaptive social functioning deficits seem associated with FHR-SZ but not FHR-BP in this developmental phase. The pattern of results suggests adaptive social functioning impairments may not be shared between FHR-BP and FHR-SZ in this developmental phase and thus not reflective of the shared risk factors for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Accuracy of emotion labeling in children of parents diagnosed with bipolar disorder

BACKGROUND

Emotion labeling deficits have been posited as an endophenotype for bipolar disorder (BD) as they have been observed in both patients and their first-degree relatives. It remains unclear whether these deficits exist secondary to the development of psychiatric symptoms or whether they can be attributed to risk for psychopathology. To explore this, we investigated emotion processing in symptomatic and asymptomatic high-risk bipolar offspring (HRO) and healthy children of healthy parents (HCO).

METHODS

Symptomatic (n:18, age: 13.8 ± 2.6 years, 44% female) and asymptomatic (n:12, age: 12.8 ± 3.0 years, 42% female) HRO and age- and sex-matched HCO (n:20, age: 13.3 ± 2.5 years, 45% female) performed an emotion-labeling task. Total number of errors, emotion category and intensity of emotion error scores were compared. Correlations between total error scores and symptom severity were also investigated.

RESULTS

Compared to HCO, both HRO groups made more errors on the adult face task (pcor=0.014). The HRO group were 2.3 times [90%CI:0.9-6.3] more likely and 4.3 times [90%CI:1.3-14.3] more likely to make errors on sad and angry faces, respectively. With the exception of sad face type errors, we observed no significant differences in error patterns between symptomatic and asymptomatic HRO, and no correlations between symptom severity and total number of errors.

LIMITATIONS

This study was cross-sectional in design, limiting our ability to infer trajectories or heritability of these deficits.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides further support for emotion labeling deficits as a candidate endophenotype for BD. Our study also suggests these deficits are not attributable to the presence of psychiatric symptoms.

Psychosocial functioning in offspring of parents with bipolar disorder

BACKGROUND

Offspring of parents with bipolar disorder are at increased risk for a range of psychopathology, including bipolar disorder. It is not clear if they also have impairments in their psychosocial functioning.

METHODS

We compared the psychosocial functioning of three groups of children enrolled in the Pittsburgh Bipolar Offspring Study (BIOS): offspring of probands with bipolar disorder (n=388), offspring of probands with other types of psychopathology (n=132), and offspring of healthy probands (n=118). Psychosocial functioning was assessed at study intake using the schedule of the Adolescent Longitudinal Interval Follow-Up Evaluation (A-LIFE), the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL) and the Children's Global Assessment Scale (CGAS).

RESULTS

Offspring of probands with bipolar disorder exhibited impairments in various aspects of psychosocial functioning. On all measures, they had worse functioning in comparison with offspring of healthy probands. Offspring of probands with bipolar disorder generally exhibited more impairment than offspring of probands with nonbipolar psychopathology. After adjusting for proband parent functioning and the child's Axis I psychopathology, functioning of offspring of probands with bipolar disorder was similar to that of offspring of healthy probands.

LIMITATIONS

Data are cross-sectional and therefore do not allow for causal conclusions about the association between parental psychopathology, child psychopathology and offspring psychosocial functioning.

CONCLUSIONS

Offspring of parents with bipolar disorder exhibit impairments in psychosocial functioning which appear largely attributable to proband parent functional impairment and the child's own psychopathology. As such, interventions to improve parental functioning, as well as early interventions to treat the child's psychopathology may help reduce the risk for long-term functional impairment in offspring.

Relationship of persistent manic symptoms to the diagnosis of pediatric bipolar spectrum disorders

OBJECTIVE

The diagnosis of bipolar spectrum disorders (BPSDs [bipolar I and II disorders, cyclothymic disorder, and bipolar disorder not otherwise specified]) in youth remains controversial. The present study evaluated the possibility that the presence of persistent manic symptoms over a relatively short interval may increase the probability of a BPSD DSM diagnosis.

METHOD

Data were obtained from the screening and baseline assessments collected from 2005 through 2008 of an ongoing prospective, longitudinal study (Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms) examining the diagnosis and phenomenology of youth (N = 692) presenting to outpatient centers at ages 6-12 years. Youth were assessed for elevated symptoms of mania (ESM) with the Parent General Behavior Inventory-10-Item Mania Scale (PGBI-10M), the primary outcome measure. Screening and baseline scores separated individuals into those with ESM (ESM+; PGBI-10M score ≥ 12) and a control group of youth without ESM (ESM-; PGBI-10M score < 12). Youth were classified into 4 groups: persistent ESM+, remitted ESM+, persistent ESM-, and progressed to ESM+.

RESULTS

Individuals with persistent ESM+ were more likely to have a BPSD (relative risk = 3.04; 95% CI, 2.15-4.30). Using 2 administrations of the PGBI-10M spaced over a relatively brief interval (median = 4.0, mean = 6.1, SD = 5.9 weeks) improved the prediction of BPSD over using only the first administration (ΔR(2) = 0.10, Δχ(2)(1) = 50.06, P < .001). Likelihood ratios indicated that persistent ESM- substantially decreased the probability of BPSD. While high levels of persistent ESM+ increased the probability of a BPSD diagnosis, the final positive predictive value was only sufficient to signify the need for more thorough clinical evaluation.

CONCLUSIONS

In many cases, obtaining repeated parent report of mania symptoms substantially altered the probability of a BPSD diagnosis and may be a useful adjunct to a careful clinical evaluation. Future waves of data collection from this longitudinal study will be crucial for devising clinically useful methods for identifying or ruling out pediatric BPSD.

Adolescent bipolar disorder: a clinical vignette

Adolescence is a vulnerable developmental phase marked by physical, psychological, and social changes that rapidly expose young people to a wide range of new stressors. When differentiating between bipolar disorder and teenage "acting out," a careful history is important. Adolescent bipolar disorder is a psychiatric illness characterized by fluctuating episodes of mood elevation and depression that is frequently neither recognized nor formally diagnosed. Adolescents with bipolar disorder often manifest a more nonepisodic, chronic course with continuous rapid-cycling patterns than do adults. Pharmacologic treatment of adolescent bipolar disorder is difficult and often requires combination therapy to address comorbidities like attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and anxiety disorder. Adjuncts to pharmacologic treatment of bipolar disorder can be beneficial. Psychosocial treatments include family education, enhanced parenting techniques, stress management, and the development of effective coping strategies.

Continuity and cascade in offspring of bipolar parents: A longitudinal study of externalizing, internalizing, and thought problems

There is growing evidence that many offspring of bipolar parents will develop moderate to severe forms of psychopathology during childhood and adolescence. The purpose of this study was to apply growth curve models to evaluate developmental progression with regard to continuity and cascades representative within the context of a family risk study of bipolar disorder (BD). Repeated assessments of externalizing, internalizing, and thought problems, spanning more than a decade, were examined in a total of 94 offspring of parents with BD (O-BD), major depressive disorder (O-UNI), or no significant psychiatric or medical problems (O-WELL). Continuity was defined by the growth curve of the O-WELL group who exhibited low levels of problems from early childhood through late adolescence. Discontinuity, as evidenced by greater complexity of growth curves relative to the O-WELL group, was exhibited in the at- risk offspring groups for internalizing problems. Different patterns of developmental cascades were supported for the at-risk group with O-UNI showing a robust cascade from self-regulatory deficits (externalizing problems) to internalizing problems. There was also support for a cascade from self-regulatory deficits to thought problems across the entire group (with some support that this pattern was accounted for primarily by O-BD). This study not only serves to advance our understanding of the risks associated with a family history of BD, but also provides a novel approach to examining developmental cascades.

Is mood affected by interactions with people at risk for affective disorders?

The interpersonal behavior of individuals who have affective disorders can increase the likelihood of interpersonal conflicts. A related issue is whether vulnerability for developing affective disorder expresses itself in social interactions that affect the mood of interaction partners as well. Adolescents (n = 119) have been divided into subgroups: "mania risk" (scoring high on "Hypomanic Personality"); "unipolar risk" (scoring high on "Rigidity"); and a control group (scoring low on both scales). Interviews were conducted by raters blind to risk status. Interviewers provided ratings of their own mood before and after the interview. Negative mood of the interviewers did not change. Interviewers' positive mood decreased when interacting with individuals at risk for unipolar disorder as well as when interacting with the control subjects, but not when interacting with people at risk for mania. It seems that individuals high in hypomanic traits keep the interaction partner longer engaged and interested.

Antipsychotic therapy during early and late pregnancy. A systematic review

OBJECTIVE

Both first- (FGAs) and second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) are routinely used in treating severe and persistent psychiatric disorders. However, until now no articles have analyzed systematically the safety of both classes of psychotropics during pregnancy. DATA SOURCES AND SEARCH STRATEGY: Medical literature information published in any language since 1950 was identified using MEDLINE/PubMed, TOXNET, EMBASE, and The Cochrane Library. Additional references were identified from the reference lists of published articles. Bibliographical information, including contributory unpublished data, was also requested from companies developing drugs. Search terms were pregnancy, psychotropic drugs, (a)typical-first-second-generation antipsychotics, and neuroleptics. A separate search was also conducted to complete the safety profile of each reviewed medication. Searches were last updated on July 2008.

DATA SELECTION

All articles reporting primary data on the outcome of pregnancies exposed to antipsychotics were acquired, without methodological limitations.

CONCLUSIONS

Reviewed information was too limited to draw definite conclusions on structural teratogenicity of FGAs and SGAs. Both classes of drugs seem to be associated with an increased risk of neonatal complications. However, most SGAs appear to increase risk of gestational metabolic complications and babies large for gestational age and with mean birth weight significantly heavier as compared with those exposed to FGAs. These risks have been reported rarely with FGAs. Hence, the choice of the less harmful option in pregnancy should be limited to FGAs in drug-naive patients. When pregnancy occurs during antipsychotic treatment, the choice to continue the previous therapy should be preferred.

Interpersonal functioning in adolescent offspring of parents with bipolar disorder

BACKGROUND

Poor interpersonal functioning may represent a putative prodromal feature of major affective disorder. However, no studies have examined the naturalistic patterns of social behaviours among the offspring of parents with a major affective disorder. The present study assessed daily social interactions among 25 offspring of parents with bipolar disorder and 23 control participants in late adolescence and young adulthood.

METHODS

Using event-contingent recording procedures, interpersonal behaviours and perceptions were assessed along four scales (quarrelsomeness, agreeableness, dominance, and submissiveness) and were measured during specific social interactions over 14 days.

RESULTS

Multilevel modeling analyses revealed no group differences on any of the four scales, but gender by group interactions were was observed. High-risk males reported higher mean levels of quarrelsome behaviour and lower mean levels of agreeable behaviour than high-risk females, whereas low-risk males and females reported comparable levels of affiliative behaviours. High-risk participants reported more externalizing, but not internalizing, problems on the Achenbach Youth Self-Report Form than low-risk participants.

LIMITATIONS

Although event-contingent recording reduces the self-report bias associated with self-report questionnaires, participants may have been biased in the selection of interactions they chose to record.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, the offspring of parents with BD, relative to controls, report no deficits in social functioning in the natural environment. However, high-risk youth displayed elevated externalizing problems and gender-specific patterns of social functioning that may precede the development of major affective disorder.

Chronic stress and stressful life events in the offspring of parents with bipolar disorder

BACKGROUND

The stress generation theory suggests that depressed individuals and children of depressed mothers are prone to create stressors that are interpersonal and dependent on their own behaviour. Exposure to "self-generated" stress is believed to increase the risk for onset and recurrence of depression. Much less is known about stress in the offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (OBD).

METHODS

As part of a longitudinal study, 37 OBD and 33 offspring of parents with no affective disorder (13 to 26 years old) were interviewed using the UCLA Life Stress Interview, assessing their current life circumstances (chronic stress) and recent negative life events (episodic stress).

RESULTS

The OBD reported more difficulties in interpersonal and non-interpersonal domains of chronic stress than controls. The group differences remained significant after controlling for the presence of affective disorders, indicating that the effect of risk status on chronic stress is independent of the problems associated with having a disorder. With respect to episodic stress, the OBD were 3.9 times more likely to have experienced a moderate to severe interpersonal stressor compared to the control group. There was no group difference for dependent events, but the OBD experienced more severe independent events than controls.

LIMITATIONS

Methodological limitations include a small sample size, large age range, and the absence of parent-reported stress and symptomatology.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the findings do not support the stress generation theory, they suggest that elevated levels of episodic and chronic stress may be important markers of risk for affective disorders in high-risk participants.

Bipolar disorder--methodological problems and future perspectives

Since its “rebirth” in 1966, bipolar disorder (BPD) has rapidly come to occupy a central position in the research and treatment of mood disorders. Compared with major depressive disorder (MDD), BPD is a more serious condition, characterized by much more frequent recurrence, more complex comorbidity, and higher mortality. One major problem is the lack of valid definitions in adult and in child psychiatry; the current definitions are unsatisfactory, and heavily favor an overdiagnosis of MDD. Biological research is partially based on those definitions, which have a short half-life. An additional, dimensional, approach, quantifying hypomania, depression, and anxiety by self-assessment and symptom checklists is recommended, A further, related problem is the early recognition of the onset of BPD, especially in adolescence, and the identification of correlates in childhood. Early and timely diagnosis of BPD is necessary to enable prompt intervention and secondary prevention of the disorder. The paper describes the current status and future directions of developing clinical concepts of bipolarity

Pediatric bipolar disorder: recognition in primary care

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Bipolar disorder (BPD) is increasingly diagnosed in youth in both outpatient and inpatient settings. Research on BPD in youth has also increased dramatically; this paper summarizes issues of clinical relevance in primary care, advancements in the last year, and areas in which more research is needed.

RECENT FINDINGS

Key issues and new developments are summarized in the following areas such as epidemiology and relevance, assessment and differential diagnosis, patient and family decision support, shared decision making and triage, treatment, and monitoring and collaboration with mental health professionals. Recent practice guidelines have important implications for diagnosis and treatment.

SUMMARY

Early-onset BPD appears to have a more severe course and more comorbidity than later life onset, as well as longer delays in treatment seeking. Affected children show differences in cognitive functioning and neuroanatomy compared with the general population. Assessment of BPD in children needs to be comprehensive and longitudinal, as diagnosis remains a debated topic. Medications are a primary part of treatment, but more double-blind, placebo-controlled trials are needed. Psychosocial adjunctive treatment is important. Children with a family history of BPD are at risk for impaired functioning and psychopathology; high-risk studies will increase our understanding of the onset and course of BPD.