Cognitive impairment and bipolar disorder?
Question by A.R.: Cognitive impairment and bipolar disorder?
If you have bipolar, have you noticed any significant cognitive impairment that you believe is caused by the disease? It’s been speculated that bipolar causes cognitive impairment (clouded thinking, inattention, memory loss) on a level that only schizophrenia and diseases like Alzheimer’s surpass. I have bipolar 1, mixed, with psychosis and personally I have noticed a severe change in my cognitive functions since the onset of the disease. I am still extremely intelligent but I find it harder to comprehend information and apply it myself and it is more difficult to recall memories.
Best answer:
Answer by Rebecca
I have the same problem. They are not sure if it is from the Bipolar or the medication.
Answer by introverted
Yeah i have, diagnosed bipolar 1 with psychotic features and have been thinking the same thing. My pdoc says its possible, i had 2 psychotic manic episodes last year and still feel impaired, slow and lack drive. Been told simply its a brain disease and cycling through episodes does cause damage.
Heres a few studies
“Negative Symptoms in the Remission Phase of Bipolar Disorder”
http://www.gjpsy.uni-goettingen.de/gjp-article-ameen.pdf
“Mood-incongruent psychotic features in bipolar disorder may signify a more severe form of the illness and might represent phenotypic manifestations of susceptibility genes shared with schizophrenia”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17267786
“Moreover, a significant number of bipolar patients show persistent cognitive deficits during remission from affective symptoms.”
http://content.karger.com/ProdukteDB/produkte.asp?Aktion=ShowAbstractBuch&ArtikelNr=12361&ProduktNr=225164
“Euthymic bipolar patients demonstrate relatively marked impairment in aspects of executive function and verbal memory.”
http://www.student.newcastle.ac.uk/l.j.robinson/publications/Robinson%20et%20al%202006%20meta-analysis%20cog%20deficits%20euthymic%20BD.pdf
Earlier age of onset, the duration of illness untreated, number of past episodes, level of severity and the duration of episodes including certain manic and depressive symptoms such as psychosis, anxiety, congruent and in-congruent affective symptoms observed a significant effect on cognition. Mixed episodes, co-morbidity (another illness), relatives with psychotic disorders, drug and/or alcohol abuse and originally receiving inappropriate anti-depressant treatment all have higher likelihood of cognitive deficits. Just the presence of psychotic symptoms increases risk of decline in social functioning, high severity of anxiety, developing affective flattening – alogia – avolition – apathy – anhedonia – asociality (common of schizophrenia), also reduced memory and attention.
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