The risk and the burden of bipolar disorder: The value of high-risk studies

Abstract

In this selective review we discuss the relative merits of studies of children of parents with bipolar disorder. Such investigations can be helpful in understanding the phenomenology and early course of bipolar disorder.

High-risk studies are also valuable in differentiating those neurobiological findings that underlie the genetic predisposition from those that reflect the burden of the illness or its treatment.

Keywords

• bipolar disorder
• brain imaging
• burden of illness
• clinical course
• genetics
• high-risk study