The Psychology of Bipolar Disorder

This chapter reviews research on psychological factors linked to bipolar disorder (BD), in terms of correlates linked to increased mood symptom severity within BD, and differences between such psychological factors when compared to health controls or other mental health conditions such as unipolar depression. Section “Section 1: Environmental and Developmental” discusses environmental and developmental factors including the impact of life events both positive and negative, seasonal affects, high levels of adverse childhood experience and trauma. Section “Section 2: Personality” discusses personality variables of greater perfectionism, low levels of self-compassion, low and variable self-esteem, high levels of impulsivity and elevated creativity. Section “Section 2: Personality” also discusses research on intelligence, socioeconomic status and academic achievement and links to leadership and entrepreneurship. Section “Section 3: Cognitive” overviews cognitive aspects of intense mental imagery, a tendency towards big goals, positive bias and elevated dysfunctional attitudes. Section “Section 4: Biobehavioural” discusses biobehavioural elements of sleep disturbances and reward sensitivity. Finally, Section “Section 5: Emotional and Motivational” discusses emotional and motivational aspects in terms of emotional dysregulation and positive beliefs about (hypo)mania and may be reluctant to stop high moods. This research needs to be interpreted in the context of limited longitudinal research in the area.