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Bipolar disorder: we’ve pinpointed the brain areas which drive mood bias
By Hestia Moningka, UCL
Moods and emotions play an important role in our day-to-day life. They even influence how we experience things – for instance, whether we start the day feeling hopeful and energised or grumpy and lethargic. This can affect whether we interpret events in a positive or negative light.
In people with bipolar disorder, however, mood can change quickly and unpredictably, so that you get “stuck” in a low or high mood, which can have significant consequences. Yet researchers don’t know exactly what drives such extreme shifts in mood.
Now our new study, published in Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, has uncovered the brain areas that bias mood and the brain’s response to pleasure in bipolar disorder. It is possible that our findings may one day lead to better treatments.
We all experience shifts in mood throughout the day. When we are in a good mood, we tend to view things more favourably – if we happen to experience a streak of success and are on a roll, our good mood similarly rolls over and gains momentum.
Equally, when we are in a bad mood, we tend to perceive bad outcomes as even worse than they are – this negative mood similarly gains momentum and might make us feel worse.
Such momentum in mood can bias how we perceive events and the decisions we make. Imagine going into a new restaurant for the first time. If you happen to be in a fantastic mood, you are likely to perceive the experience as much better than it actually is. This might set up your expectations that a future visit would give you a similar, positive experience, and leave you feeling disappointed if that is not the case.
The process by which mood biases the perception of pleasurable or rewarding experiences has been thought to be amplified for people with bipolar disorder, who can experience moods that can quickly climb to extremes.
Read Full Story https://theconversation.com/bipolar-disorder-weve-pinpointed-the-brain-areas-which-drive-mood-bias-232854