CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

A comprehensive understanding of the manic, depressed and euthymic phases of bipolar disorder and their associated neuropsychological changes is important for the successful management and possible remedy of this debilitating disorder.

Given that patients with bipolar disorder often exhibit disrupted social behaviour and sub-optimal decision-making, the study of impaired executive function could have important implications for rehabilitation.

Congruent with their current moods, patients with mania and depression demonstrate information processing biases for positive and negative stimuli, respectively. The affective ‘go/no-go’ paradigm used to investigate these biases may be useful in monitoring fluctuations in mood and the efficacy of pharmacological or other treatments.