Mechanisms in Manic-Depressive Disorder

Loss of social status: preliminary evaluation of a novel animal model of depression

“…These observations reinforce the parallels that have frequently been drawn between the behaviour of depressed people and patterns of submissive behaviour in animals (Price, 1972;Gardner, 1982). Submissive behaviour in people is associated with low self-esteem, which is both a vulnerability factor for, and a symptom of, depression (Becker, 1979;Brown et al, 1990;Bernet, Ingram and Johnson, 1993).…”

Creativity and Bipolar Disorder: A Shared Genetic Vulnerability

“…Many have speculated that the persistence of bipolar disorder in the population may be explained by balancing selection. Under this model, variants contributing to risk for illness also confer adaptive advantages for associated traits in affective and cognitive domains that increase fitness in the first-degree relatives of patients and other allele carriers in the general population , Gardner 1982, Nettle & Clegg 2006. The observation of increased fertility rates among the unaffected siblings of individuals with bipolar disorder is consistent with this hypothesis (Power et al 2013) because they presumably carry a reduced burden of risk variants and may express the associated traits in a milder, more advantageous form.…”

The Expression of Affective Temperaments in Cystic Fibrosis Patients: Psychopathological Associations and Possible Neurobiological Mechanisms

“…Evidence from the literature describe a hyperthymic temperament as being associated with significant genetic loading (i.e., chromosomes 12 and 22; genes MDM1 and FBLN1) [ 39 , 40 ], leading to the hypothesis that it could represent an evolutionary adaptive advantage [ 41 , 42 ]. A hyperthymic temperament plays a protective role against the development of mental illnesses [ 43 ] and suicide risk in clinical populations [ 44 , 45 ], among whom it tends to predict better outcomes of manic episodes [ 46 ] and overall improved outcomes of BD and MDD [ 47 , 48 ].…”