Bradley study targets pediatric bipolar disease

PROVIDENCE – A new study from Bradley Hospital has found that bipolar children have greater activation in the right amygdala – a brain region important for emotional reaction – than bipolar adults when viewing emotional faces.

The study, now published online in JAMA Psychiatry, suggests that bipolar children might benefit from treatments that target emotional face identification, such as computer based “brain games” or group and individual therapy.

This study is the first ever meta-analysis to directly compare brain changes in bipolar children to bipolar adults. Ezra Wegbreit, a postdoctoral research fellow at Bradley Hospital, led the study along with senior author Dr. Daniel Dickstein, director of the PediMIND Program at Bradley Hospital.

“Bipolar disorder is among the most debilitating psychiatric illnesses affecting adults worldwide, with an estimated prevalence of one to four percent of the adult population, but more than 40 percent of adults report their bipolar disorder started in childhood rather than adulthood,” said Wegbreit.

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While fMRI studies have begun to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying bipolar disorder, few have directly compared differences in youths with bipolar disorder and bipolar adults. Analysis of emotional face recognition fMRI studies showed significantly greater amygdala activity among bipolar youths than bipolar adults.

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