All About Bipolar

Posted By atorturedsoul on November 13, 2009

In the news: Bipolar medication doesn’t impact cognitive performance, the ‘despair’ gene linked to bipolar disorder, and schizophrenics, psychotics more likely to die of heart disease.

Bipolar Medication Doesn’t Impact Cognitive Performance

Utpal Goswami, from the University of Delhi in India, recently performed a study to examine executive function, memory, and attention in patients who are taking medication for bipolar disorder. The study consisted of 44 patients with bipolar I disorder. 22 were taking medication and 22 were not.

Previous studies had shown cognitive deficits in bipolar disorder but did not determine what role, if any, medication played in these deficits. The new study shows no significant performance differences in patients who are and are not taking medication.

Source: Psych Central

‘Despair’ Gene Linked to Bipolar Disorder, Depression, and Schizophrenia

Pharmacy scientists at the University of Maryland in Baltimore have linked the despair gene to bipolar disorder, depression and schizophrenia.

A gene, touted as the “despair” gene, which earlier had no relation with mood disorders, has now been found to have a link with bipolar disorder, depression, and schizophrenic conditions, according to pharmacy scientists at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). The researchers have identified antidepressant and anti-anxiety behaviours in tests of mice lacking the gene.

Dr. Elisabeth Barbier and Dr. Jia Bei Wang ran a series of standard behavioural tests on the mice without the PKCI/HINT1 gene, concluding that it may have an important role in mood regulation.

Source: Trak.In

Schizophrenics, Psychotics More Likely to Die of Heart Disease

People with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders are more likely to die of heart disease than normal people, says a new study.

I don’t like being referred to as a “psychotic” and I don’t like the reference to “normal people”, but the findings of this study are interesting.

Smoking and lack of exercise, both common behaviours in people with mental disorders, contributed to the heart disease-related deaths considerably.

‘These are devastating illnesses that lead to a lot of functional impairment, so many of these individuals have difficulty staying motivated to exercise to begin with, or finding places where they feel comfortable exercising,’ Kilbourne said.
Source: Trak.In

Related posts:

1. Light therapy beneficial to patients with bipolar disorder? Is light therapy beneficial to patients with bipolar disorder? Recent...
2. Study finds bipolar patients have increased risk for medical ailments A new study by Thomson Reuters has discovered that patients...
3. All About Bipolar: Risks and Side Effects of Medication Side effects of medications used to treat bipolar disorder are...
4. Thyroid hormone effective for treatment resistant depression A study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders states...
5. Take that, voices! I am ignoring my voices today and feeling pretty smug...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Categories: About Bipolar Disorder, Bipolar 1, Bipolar 2, Cyclothymia, NOS, Psychosis
Tags: about, all, bipolar, cognitive performance, despair gene, heart disease, medication, research, study