People with bipolar I disorder report avoiding rewarding activities and dampening positive emotion

Abstract

Background Researchers have linked bipolar disorder to elevations in reward sensitivity and positive affect. Little is known, however, about how people with bipolar disorder respond to rewards and positive affect and how these tendencies relate to functioning or quality of life. Methods Persons diagnosed with bipolar I disorder and matched controls completed the Response to Positive Affect (RPA) measure and the Brief Quality of Life in Bipolar Disorder scale. Bipolar participants also completed the Reward Responses Inventory, which we designed to assess the extent to which participants avoid rewarding activities to prevent mania. A subsample of participants with bipolar disorder completed a positive mood induction procedure to examine the validity of the Response to Positive Affect scale. Results The majority of bipolar participants reported avoiding at least one rewarding activity as a means of preventing mania. In addition, people with bipolar I disorder reported more dampening responses to positive affect than did control participants. Dampening positive emotions was related to lower quality of life. Limitations This study does not address whether responses to affect and reward are related to the longitudinal course of symptoms. Conclusions These findings suggest that people with bipolar I disorder seem to be aware of the potential of goal achievements to trigger mania, and many people with bipolar disorder seem to take steps to avoid positive emotion and reward.

Volumetric, cortical thickness and white matter integrity alterations in bipolar disorder type I and II

“…A central psychiatric component to BD the response to rewarding stimuli and tendency for rewarding life events to precipitate hypomanic or manic episodes (Edge et al, 2013;Gruber, 2011). The ventral striatum is a key component of neural circuitry underlying reward processing including the ventral prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulated brain regions.…”

Nuevos abordajes para el tratamiento de la fibromialgia: una intervención positiva para la promoción del optimismo mediante la utilización de TICs

“…Clinical patients used more strategies to dampen positive affect and lower strategies to intensify positive emotions. This is in line with other studies that found that people with bipolar I disorder and depressed individuals reported more dampening responses to positive affect than did control participants (Edge et al, 2013;Werner-Seidler, Banks, Dunn, Moulds, 2013). Clinical population differed from nonclinical samples in the use of reappraisal (changing the way one thinks about potentially emotion-eliciting events) to regulate affective responses (Ray, McRae, Ochsner., & Gross, 2010) but not in their emotional expression (changing the way one behaviorally responds to emotion-eliciting events).…”

“…Moreover, people with bipolar disorder reported more dampening responses to positive affect than did control participants (Edge et al, 2013;Shapero et al, 2015). In community samples, results indicated that current and formerly depressed individuals engage in dampening strategies in response to positive affect (Nelis, Holmes, & Raes, 2015;Werner-Seidler, Banks, Dunn, & Moulds, 2013).…”

Comparison of precipitating factors for mania and partial seizures: Indicative of shared pathophysiology?

“…A prospective study of 43 participants with BDI found that goal-attainment events were associated with increased manic symptoms (Johnson et al, 2000), a finding which was later replicated in a larger sample (n ¼125) (Johnson et al, 2008). Individuals with BDI reported mania after achieving an important success and avoiding rewarding activities to prevent mania (Edge et al, 2013). This effect may be related to the regulation of the behavioural activation system, a motivational system which regulates reward-mediated behaviours and emotional homeostasis (Depue and Iacono, 1989).…”