title: An association between affective lability and executive functioning in bipolar disorder.
abstract: Studies suggest altered affect regulation manifested by affective lability in manic/mixed and euthymic states in patients with bipolar disorder (BD). Altered affect regulation may arise from disturbances in interactions between the cognitive and the emotional brain networks. However, the relationship between affective lability and executive function has not previously been studied. Our aim was to investigate affective lability, as measured with the Affective Lability Scale (ALS) in patients with BD (N=32) compared to healthy controls (HC) (N=60), and its relationship to executive functioning. We found significantly higher ALS scores in the BD than in the HC group, indicating a higher degree of affective lability in patients with BD. Sub-sample analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between affective lability and semantic set shifting abilities in BD only. These findings suggest that higher levels of affective lability compared with controls are a trait as well as state dependent in BD, and that disturbed affective lability may arise from an aberrant interaction between cognitive and emotional brain networks.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo. P O Box 1171 Blindern, N-0318 Oslo, Norway. s.r.aminoff@medisin.uio.no
authors.forename: Sofie Ragnhild
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Aminoff
authors.forename: Jimmy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: Trine Vik
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Lagerberg
authors.forename: Tone
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hellvin
authors.forename: Kjetil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sundet
authors.forename: Ole A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Andreassen
authors.forename: Ingrid
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Melle
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D000368:Aged; D001244:Association; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000150:complications*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult