In France, bipolar disorder affects around 2% of the adult population, or 1.3 million people. These mood disorders are characterized by an alternation of depressive phases and phases of exaltation (called “manic”) which lead to significant disturbances, in particular at the level of emotions and behavior.
Bipolar disorders can also be the origin of sleep disorders, addictions, cognitive disorders … and suicide attempts.
To date, the concrete impact of bipolar disorders on the body remains poorly understood. Exactly: researchers from the Karolinska Institutet (in Sweden) are interested in the direct consequences of bipolar disorders on the brain.
Brain changes that could explain the worsening of bipolar symptoms
Swedish researchers worked with medical data and MRI results for 307 people with bipolar disorder and 925 people who were not sick.
Results ? Scientists have observed that in people with bipolar disorder and frequent manic episodes, the cerebral cortex (this is the outermost layer of the brain) is abnormally thin. In addition, patients with bipolar disorder had cerebral ventricles (these are the chambers that contain cerebrospinal fluid) that widened faster than average.
For Swedish researchers, these findings may explain (at least in part) the worsening of bipolar disorder symptoms over time. They thus evoke the hypothesis of a “neuroprogressive” disease.
This work has been published in the scientific journal Biological Psychiatry.
Read also :
- Bipolar disorder: symptoms worsen during menstruation
- 7 signs you’re mentally exhausted
- The daily life of a bipolar mother told by her daughter