Increased impulsive behavior is a risk factor for bipolar disorder, according to Dr. Michèle Wessa and her associates.
Both high-risk groups studied — relatives of bipolar disorder patients and study participants with high Hypomanic Personality Scale scores — demonstrated heightened impulsivity and impulsive decision making, compared with the low-risk control groups. No signficant difference in response inhibition was seen between any of the study groups.
“The knowledge derived from this and other studies helps in the assessment of early inventions in participants at risk, who develop the disorder by. . .training them to make less impulsive decisions, which might prevent them from a progression on the bipolar spectrum,” the investigators concluded.
Find the full study in the Journal of Affective Disorders (doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2015.02.018).
