Neuropsychology of mood disorders

Roiser, Jonathan P; Rubinsztein, Judy S; Sahakian, Barbara J

doi:10.1383/psyt.2006.5.5.158

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Volume 5, Issue 5 , Pages 158-162, 1 May 2006

Neuropsychology of mood disorders

Jonathan P Roiser, PhD
- Jonathan P Roiser PhD holds the Raymond Way Fellowship at the Institute of Neurology, University College London, UK. He gained his PhD in cognitive neuroscience from the University of Cambridge. His research interests include the neurobiology of schizophrenia, affective disorders and the effects of substance abuse on cognitive and emotional processing.
Judy S Rubinsztein, MRCPsych PhD
- Judy S Rubinsztein MRCPsych PhD is Consultant Psychiatrist at the West Suffolk Hospital and Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, UK. She qualified from the University of Cape Town Medical School, South Africa, trained in psychiatry in Cambridge, and completed her PhD in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge. Her research interests include the neuropsychology and functional neuroimaging of mood disorders and psychopharmacology.
Barbara J Sahakian, PhD Dip Clin Psych
- Barbara J Sahakian PhD Dip Clin Psych is Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Cambridge, UK, and is based in the Department of Psychiatry at the School of Clinical Medicine. Before taking up her academic post at the University of Cambridge, she was a lecturer and senior lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, London. Her research interests include neuropsychology, neuropsychiatry, neuroimaging and cognitive psychopharmacology.

Abstract

In this review, we discuss the importance of neuropsychological deficits in unipolar and bipolar depression. Cognitive impairments are a key component of both disorders, and while a number of deficits exist in the depressed state, many of these disappear on remission. We propose that state-dependent deficits in the depressed state may be explicable in terms of alterations in emotion-dependent, or ‘hot’, processing, particularly in tasks that utilise feedback. In bipolar disorder, where impairments are also common in the euthymic state, cognitive deficits may provide putative endophenotypes, which may aid research into the biological underpinnings of mood disorders.

Keywords: mood disorders , attention , bipolar , cognition , decision-making , depression , endophenotype , euthymia , executive function , hot processing , mania , neuropsychology , memory , negative feedback , unipolar