Lower Switch Rate in Depressed Patients With Bipolar II Than Bipolar I Disorder Treated Adjunctively With Second-Generation Antidepressants.

Objectives: The authors compared the switch rate into hypomania/mania in depressed patients treated with second-generation antidepressants who had either bipolar I or bipolar II disorder.

Methods: In a 10-week trial, 184 outpatients with bipolar depression (134 with bipolar I disorder, 48 with bipolar II disorder, two with bipolar disorder not otherwise specified) were treated with one of three antidepressants as an adjunct to mood stabilizers. The patients' switch rates were assessed.

Are personality disorders in bipolar patients more frequent in the US than Europe?

Objective: Bipolar patients in the United States (US) compared to those from the Netherlands and Germany (here abbrev. as "Europe") have more Axis I comorbidities and more poor prognosis factors such as early onset and psychosocial adversity in childhood. We wished to examine whether these differences also extended to Axis II personality disorders (PDs).

Mania and bipolar depression: complementing not opposing poles-a post-hoc analysis of mixed features in manic and hypomanic episodes.

Background: Depending on the classification system used, 5-40% of manic subjects present with concomitant depressive symptoms. This post-hoc analysis evaluates the hypothesis that (hypo)manic subjects have a higher burden of depression than non-(hypo)manic subjects.

Methods: Data from 806 Bipolar I or II participants of the Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network (SFBN) were analyzed, comprising 17,937 visits.

25 Years of the International Bipolar Collaborative Network (BCN).

Background: The Stanley Foundation Bipolar Treatment Outcome Network (SFBN) recruited more than 900 outpatients from 1995 to 2002 from 4 sites in the United States (US) and 3 in the Netherlands and Germany (abbreviated as Europe). When funding was discontinued, the international group of investigators continued to work together as the Bipolar Collaborative Network (BCN), publishing so far 87 peer-reviewed manuscripts. On the 25th year anniversary of its founding, publication of a brief summary of some of the major findings appeared appropriate.

Double jeopardy in the United States: Early onset bipolar disorder and treatment delay.

Background: Evidence is emerging that early onset bipolar disorder and the duration of the delay to first treatment are both risk factors for poor treatment outcome. We report on the incidence and implications of these two risk factors in patients from the United States (US) versus Europe.

Methods: Age of onset and age at first treatment for depression or mania was assessed in 967 outpatients with bipolar disorder who gave informed consent for participation and filling out a detailed questionnaire.

Relationship of comorbid personality disorders to prospective outcome in bipolar disorder.

Introduction There is a high incidence of Axis II personality disorders (PDs) in patients with bipolar illness, but their influence on the prospectively measured course of bipolar disorder has been less well explicated. Methods 392 outpatients with bipolar disorder gave informed consent, completed the PDQ4 99 item personality disorder rating, and where clinically rated during at least one year of prospective naturalistic treatment. They were classified as Well on admission (N = 64) or Responders (N = 146) or Non-responders (N = 182) to treatment for at least six months.

Lower Switch Rate in Depressed Patients With Bipolar II Than Bipolar I Disorder Treated Adjunctively With Second-Generation Antidepressants.

(Reprinted with permission from 163:313-315).

Predictors of psychosocial outcome of bipolar disorder: data from the Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network.

Background: Impairments in psychosocial functioning have been demonstrated in 30-60% of adults with bipolar disorder (BD). However, the majority of studies investigating the effect of comorbid mental health disorders and age at onset outcomes in BD have focused on traditional outcome measures such as mood symptoms, mortality and treatment response. Therefore, this project aimed to investigate the impact of comorbid mental health disorders and age at onset on longitudinal psychosocial outcome in participants with BD.

Adding Increased Energy or Activity to Criterion (A) of the DSM-5 Definition of Hypomania and Mania: Effect on the Diagnoses of 907 Patients From the Bipolar Collaborative Network.

Objective: According to DSM-IV, criterion (A) for diagnosing a hypomanic/manic episode is mood change (ie, elevated, expansive, or irritable mood). Criterion (A) was redefined in DSM-5, adding increased energy or activity in addition to mood change. We sought to investigate the effect of adding increased energy or activity to criterion (A) for the diagnosis of hypomania/mania and, thus, bipolar disorder.

Testing a clinical staging model for bipolar disorder using longitudinal life chart data.

Objective: Bipolar disorder has a wide range of clinical manifestations which may progress over time. The aim of this study was to test the applicability of a clinical staging model for bipolar disorder and to gain insight into the nature of the variables influencing progression through consecutive stages.

Methods: Using retrospectively reported longitudinal life chart data of 99 subjects from the Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network Naturalistic Follow-up Study, the occurrence, duration and timely sequence of stages 2-4 were determined per month.

Axis II Personality Disorders Are Linked to an Adverse Course of Bipolar Disorder.

The relationship of personality disorder (PD) psychopathology to the course of bipolar disorder remains inadequately described. After giving informed consent, more than 782 outpatients with bipolar disorder rated themselves on the 99-item Personality Disorder Questionnaire, Version 4 (PDQ4) when depressed or euthymic. They also rated six poor prognosis factors (PPFs).

Would glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists have efficacy in binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa? A review of the current literature.

Binge eating, eating an abnormally large amount of food in a discrete period of time with a sense of loss of control over eating, is a defining feature of the eating disorders binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN). Both BED and BN are important public health problems for which there are few medical treatments. However, almost all drugs with central nervous system-mediated weight loss properties studied thus far in randomized, placebo-controlled trials in persons with BED or BN have been efficacious for reducing binge eating behavior.

Prevalence of axis II comorbidities in bipolar disorder: relationship to mood state.

Objectives: A high incidence of Axis II personality disorders is described in patients with bipolar disorder; however, their relationship to mood state remains uncertain.

Methods: A total of 966 outpatients with bipolar disorder gave informed consent and filled out the Personality Disorder Questionnaire, 4th edition (PDQ4) and a questionnaire on demographics and course of illness prior to Bipolar Treatment Outcome Network entry at average age 41 years. Patients were rated at each visit for depression on the Inventory of Depressive Symptoms-Clinician version (IDS-C) and for mania on the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS).

The relationship between self-reported borderline personality features and prospective illness course in bipolar disorder.

Background: Although bipolar disorder (BD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) share clinical characteristics and frequently co-occur, their interrelationship is controversial. Especially, the differentiation of rapid cycling BD and BPD can be troublesome. This study investigates the relationship between borderline personality features (BPF) and prospective illness course in patients with BD, and explores the effects of current mood state on self-reported BPF profiles.

Guidelines for the recognition and management of mixed depression.

A significant minority of people presenting with a major depressive episode (MDE) experience co-occurring subsyndromal hypo/manic symptoms. As this presentation may have important prognostic and treatment implications, the DSM-5 codified a new nosological entity, the "mixed features specifier," referring to individuals meeting threshold criteria for an MDE and subthreshold symptoms of (hypo)mania or to individuals with syndromal mania and subthreshold depressive symptoms. The mixed features specifier adds to a growing list of monikers that have been put forward to describe phenotypes characterized by the admixture of depressive and hypomanic symptoms (e.

Switch Rates During Acute Treatment for Bipolar II Depression With Lithium, Sertraline, or the Two Combined: A Randomized Double-Blind Comparison.

Objective: The authors compared medication-induced mood switch risk (primary outcome), as well as treatment response and side effects (secondary outcomes) with three acute-phase treatments for bipolar II depression.

Method: In a 16-week, double-blind, multisite comparison study, 142 participants with bipolar II depression were randomly assigned to receive lithium monotherapy (N=49), sertraline monotherapy (N=45), or combination treatment with lithium and sertraline (N=48). At each visit, mood was assessed using standardized rating scales.

More childhood onset bipolar disorder in the United States than Canada or Europe: Implications for treatment and prevention.

Evidence of a high or increasing incidence of childhood onset bipolar disorder in the United States (US) has been viewed skeptically. Here we review evidence that childhood onsets of bipolar disorder are more common in the US than in Europe, treatment delays are longer, and illness course is more adverse and difficult. Epidemiological data and studies of offspring at high risk also support these findings.

Dysphoric mania, mixed states, and mania with mixed features specifier: are we mixing things up?

Various terms have been used to describe mania when it is accompanied by depressive symptoms. In this article, we attempt to define and discuss 3 of these terms: dysphoric mania, mixed state, and mania with mixed features specifier. We conclude that whatever term is used, it is important to be aware that mania is more often unpleasant than pleasant, and that the unpleasantness is not limited to depression.

Illnesses in siblings of US patients with bipolar disorder relate to multigenerational family history and patients severity of illness.

Background: Patients with bipolar disorder from the US have more early-onset illness and a greater familial loading for psychiatric problems than those from the Netherlands or Germany (abbreviated here as Europe). We hypothesized that these regional differences in illness burden would extend to the patients siblings.

Methods: Outpatients with bipolar disorder gave consent for participation in a treatment outcome network and for filling out detailed questionnaires.

Lisdexamfetamine dimesylate in binge eating disorder: a placebo controlled trial.

Objective: To evaluate lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (LDX) in the treatment of binge eating disorder (BED).

Method: Fifty participants with BED received LDX (20-70 mg/day) (n = 25) or placebo (n = 25) for up to 12 weeks in a single-center, randomized, double-blind, and flexible-dose trial. The primary outcome measure was binge eating (BE) days/week.

Medical comorbidity of binge eating disorder.

Purpose: To gain further understanding of the general medical comorbidity of binge eating disorder (BED) beyond its association with obesity.

Method: We reviewed studies of general medical comorbidity in people with BED or clinically significant binge eating behavior beyond obesity. We also reviewed studies of BED in specific medical conditions.