Affective disorders and cognitive performance

Neuropsychological functioning in schizoaffective disorder, depressed type

“…As regards the results of the comparison be-tween remitted schizodepressive and depressive patients, examined from 2 to 4 years after the index episode, it is worth noting that the only significant differences were found with respect to registration and problem-solving measures (scores on the LNNB scales Memory and Intellectual processes). It seems that while patients with "pure" major depression tend to make a complete recovery from their episodes, without any cognitive deterioration (in agreement with the report by Kerry et al (18), some impairment of cognitive functions may, instead, persist in schizodepressive patients. This finding is in line with our previous report of poorer work performance and fewer social contacts, 3 years after the index episode, in patients previously diagnosed as schizodepressives compared with patients with a previous diagnosis of major depressive disorder (4), supporting the idea that the long-term outcome of patients with a cross-sectional diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, depressed type, is, on average, significantly worse than that of "pure" depressives.…”

Persistent attentional dysfunction in remitted bipolar disorder

“…Attentional deficits have been identified frequently in individuals with bipolar disorder (BPD) [1–3]. Some researchers have identified deficits only during acute mood episodes [4–7], while others suggest that these deficits are present during periods of clinical remission as well [8–14], particularly if patients have comorbid substance use disorders [9]. It remains unclear whether attentional deficits in BPD are state‐dependent (present only during acute mood episodes) or trait‐dependent (enduring characteristics of the disorder present even during periods in which patients are no longer experiencing fluctuations in mood states) because researchers have not consistently examined the influence of symptom severity and medication on attentional performance.…”

Neurocognitive Functioning in Bipolar Disorder: A Comprehensive Review of Recent Data

“…There is some data which are negative for the presence of a defi cit in working memory (Larson et al 2005 ;Docherty et al 1996 ;Thompson et al 2007 ) and spatial working memory (Pirkola et al 2005 ) and in verbal learning (Chang et al 2011 ) and verbal (Landro et al 1993 ;Paradiso et al 1997 ;Kerry et al 1983 ) and visual memory (Kerry et al 1983 ). One study suggested that most of memory defi cits are due to the presence of confounding variables except maybe for verbal recall (Malhi et al 2007a ).…”