12 years of bipolar disorder research, scientists have discovered many things

Bipolar disorders has been concluded based on several observations

Mood, an emotional feeling, sometimes provides significant effects. When you are in good mood, then your job will be finished on time. On the other hand, if it is the opposite, then you will get mad affecting not only for your job, but also for your social relationships. Now, imagine an individual which is diagnosed for bipolar disorder?

AeglePhysics.com – Bipolar disorder is classified as a mental health problem. According to Encyclopedia of Mental Health authorized by Ellen Thackery et al., bipolar or manic-depressive, disorder is a mood disorder that causes radical emotional changes and mood swings, from manic highs to depressive lows. The majority of bipolar individual’s experience alternating episodes of mania (an elevated or euphoric mood or irritable state) and depression. People might have wondered, why someone can change their mood in quick ways? They would answer with genetic change, chemical imbalance, or life event or sometimes they will quickly reply with depression.

But, the scientists from University of Michigan which have researched for 12 years discovered many things that patients experiencing bipolar disorder varies from that of others with the condition. It means, the bipolar disorder shows differently to each other. However, based on their study which has been published in the International Journal of Epidemiology stated that all of patient’s experiences include features that fall into seven classes of phenotypes, or characteristics that can be observed. According to EurekAlert, the observations are:

1. Changes in cognition, which includes thinking, reasoning and emotion processing;
2. Psychological dimensions such as personality and temperament;
3. Measures of behaviors related to substance use or abuse – called motivated behaviors;
4. Aspects of the person’s life story involving family and intimate relationships and traumas;
5. Patterns of sleep and circadian rhythms; and
6. Measures of how patients’ symptoms change over time and respond to treatment.

The team researchers also found key results, which include:

1. Migraine headaches are three and a half times more common among people with bipolar disorder than those without. Eating disorders, anxiety disorders and alcohol problems are also more common in those with bipolar, as is metabolic syndrome.
2. More people with bipolar disorder have a history of childhood trauma than those without the condition, it is associated with changes in self-control and attention.
3. People with bipolar disorder had higher levels of saturated fats in their diets, and the research also found associations between levels of certain fat molecules in the blood of patients and their mood or level of symptoms.
4. Looking at the microbes living in the gastrointestinal tracts of patients and comparison volunteers, the researchers found lower levels of key bacteria type, and less diversity of microbes in patients taking antipsychotic medications.
5. Poor sleep appears to play a key role in bipolar disorder, with links found to severity of depression and mania in female, but not male, participants with the condition. other gender differences also emerged in other aspects of the study.
6. People with bipolar disorder who have a strong neurotic tendency in their personalities are more likely to have severe illness, especially among men.
7. A range of cognitive abilities – including memory, executive functioning and motor skills – were poorer in participants with bipolar than those without, in general. The study found a particular link between the cognitive abilities of people who carried a particular genetic trait and were taking newer antipsychotic medicines.
8. Two genes, called CACNA1 and ANK3, appear to play a role in susceptibility to developing bipolar disorder. But many genetic variations have been found to be associated with bipolar risk, and more recent findings have explored the role of having a mix of these variations in the chances a person will develop bipolar.
9. Stem cells grown from skin samples taken from participants, and then coaxed to grow into nerve cells called neurons, have proven useful in studying cellular aspects of bipolar disorder. For instance, neurons derived from bipolar patient’s cells were more excitable than comparisons – but calmed down when exposed to lithium, a common treatment for bipolar. Also, the cells show differences in how they interact and function.
10. Key features of speech patterns predict mood states and may be useful outcomes measures to predict the need for intervention to prevent episodes of mania or depression.