A pilot study of positive mood induction in euthymic bipolar subjects compared with healthy controls.
BACKGROUND
Demonstrating differences between euthymic bipolar subjects and healthy controls in response to positive (happy) mood induction may help elucidate how mania evolves. This pilot study evaluates the Go task in a reward paradigm as a method for inducing a happy mood state and compares the response of euthymic bipolar subjects and healthy controls.


METHODS
The Sense of Hyperpositive Self Scale, the Tellegen positive and negative adjectives, the Global-Local task and a visual analogue scale for measuring positive affect were administered to 15 euthymic bipolar subjects and 19 age-and-sex-matched healthy control subjects before and after they had performed the Go task in a reward paradigm.


RESULTS
Significant differences were found between subjects and controls on several measures at each time-point but there were no differences across the groups across time except for the visual analogue scales, where subjects had a more sustained duration in self-reported happiness compared with controls.


CONCLUSIONS
This pilot study has shown that a positive affect can be induced in bipolar subjects and controls which can be demonstrated by changes in scores on several tasks. However, only the visual analogue scales showed a significant difference between cases and controls over time. Such tests may prove valuable in furthering understanding about the evolution of manic mood states.
Farmer
Anne
A
MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Camberwell, London, UK. a.farmer@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Lam
Dominic
D
Sahakian
Barbara
B
Roiser
Jonathon
J
Burke
Ailbhe
A
O'Neill
Nathan
N
Keating
Sam
S
Smith
Georgia Powell
GP
McGuffin
Peter
P
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods; D012649:Self Concept; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014796:Visual Perception