A longitudinal CNV study of the evolution and treatment of bipolar illness.

In a longitudinal CNV study of bipolar illness we followed the evolution of this illness in six bipolar patients by recording their CNV and mood changes as well as their psychopharmacological treatment for a period of 8 months. The longitudinal CNV recordings of these patients did not show changes corresponding to their mood variations. The most salient result emerging from this study was the consistency in the patterns of the records in different patients in spite of variations in their clinical state and medications. We believe that these electrophysiological parameters cannot be used as markers of the mental state in bipolar patients nor do they reflect specific drug effect. These findings are congruent with available data which do not support a linear relationship between a complex psychological process such as manic depressive illness and a single physical dimension of brain activity. Further studies are warranted for a deeper understanding of this phenomenon.