Citation

Brotman MA, Rich BA, Schmajuk M, Reising M, Monk CS, Dickstein DP, Mogg K, Bradley BP, Pine DS, Leibenluft E. Biol. Psychiatry 2007; 61(6): 819-821.

Affiliation

Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. brotmanm@mail.nih.gov

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.08.021

PMID

17338904

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although comorbid anxiety disorders are common in children with bipolar disorder (BD), it is unclear how this comorbidity impacts the pathophysiology of the illness. METHODS: Pediatric BD with lifetime anxiety (BD+ANX, n = 20), BD without lifetime anxiety (BD-ANX, n = 11), and controls (n = 14) were administered the visual-probe paradigm, which assesses attention bias to threat faces. RESULTS: Bipolar disorder +ANX demonstrated a stronger bias toward threat relative to BD-ANX and controls; the latter two did not differ from each other. CONCLUSIONS: Bipolar disorder +ANX showed a bias toward threat while, in two previous studies, anxious children showed a bias away from threat faces. Future studies should compare the pathophysiology of BD with and without a comorbid anxiety disorder and anxiety disorders presenting alone.

Language: en