Ventral prefrontal network response to alcohol in young adults with bipolar disorder: a within-subject randomized placebo-controlled alcohol administration study.

Bipolar disorder co-occurs with alcohol use disorder at a rate 3-5 times higher than the general population. We recently reported that individuals with bipolar disorder differ in the positive stimulating and anxiolytic effects of alcohol compared with healthy peers. This study used a randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over, within-subject alcohol administration design to investigate neurobiological mechanisms within ventral prefrontal cortical (vPFC) systems that may underlie altered sensitivity to alcohol in bipolar disorder (NCT04063384).

Subjective response to alcohol: Interactive effects of early life stress, parental risk for mood and substance use disorders, and drinking context.

Early life stress, specifically childhood maltreatment, and parental risk for mood and substance use disorders (SUDs) are associated with increased risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD). There is limited data on how these factors interact to contribute to alcohol-related outcomes. Prior work has suggested early life stress may increase sensitivity to psychostimulants and that subjective response to alcohol is heritable.

Subjective response to alcohol in young adults with bipolar disorder and recent alcohol use: a within-subject randomized placebo-controlled alcohol administration study.

Limited data exists on mechanisms contributing to elevated risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD) in bipolar disorder. Variation in subjective response to alcohol may relate to alcohol use and risk for AUD. This study used a randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over, within-subjects design to investigate differences in subjective response to alcohol in 50 euthymic young adults (n = 24 with and n = 26 without bipolar disorder type I).

Coping drinking motives, neural functional coupling during emotion processing, and alcohol use in young adults with bipolar disorder.

Background: Rates of alcohol use disorders in individuals with bipolar disorder are 3 to 5 times greater than in the general population and exceed rates of alcohol use disorders reported in other affective and anxiety disorders. Despite this high rate of comorbidity, our understanding of the psychosocial and neural mechanisms that underlie the initiation of alcohol misuse in young adults with bipolar disorder remains limited. Prior work suggests that individuals with bipolar disorder may misuse alcohol as a coping mechanism, yet the neural correlates of coping drinking motives and associated alcohol use have not been previously investigated in this population.

Alcohol Use and Prefrontal Cortex Volume Trajectories in Young Adults with Mood Disorders and Associated Clinical Outcomes.

(1) Background: Alcohol use in the course of mood disorders is associated with worse clinical outcomes. The mechanisms by which alcohol use alters the course of illness are unclear but may relate to prefrontal cortical (PFC) sensitivity to alcohol. We investigated associations between alcohol use and PFC structural trajectories in young adults with a mood disorder compared to typically developing peers.

Recent Perceived Stress, Amygdala Reactivity to Acute Psychosocial Stress, and Alcohol and Cannabis Use in Adolescents and Young Adults With Bipolar Disorder.

Psychosocial stress negatively affects the clinical course of bipolar disorder. Studies primarily focused on adults with bipolar disorder suggest the impact of stress is progressive, i.e.

Neural functional connectivity changes to psychosocial stress in young adults with bipolar disorder and preliminary associations with clinical trajectories.

Background: Stress-related mechanisms are implicated in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder and may contribute to heterogeneity in illness course. Yet, there is a lack of study investigating the neural mechanisms underlying the stress response in this condition. This study investigated changes in amygdala activation and functional connectivity in response to acute psychosocial stress in young adults with bipolar disorder and explored relations with clinical phenotype and prospective mood symptoms.