Deficits in attention to emotional stimuli distinguish youth with severe mood dysregulation from youth with bipolar disorder.

Authors

Brendan A Rich, Department of Psychology, Catholic University of America, 4001 Harewood Rd, NE, Washington, DC 20064, USAFollow
Melissa A Brotman, Department of Health and Human Services, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Daniel P Dickstein, Brown University Medical School, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Providence, RI, USA
Derek G V Mitchell, Departments of Psychiatry and Anatomy & Cell Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, CanadaFollow
R James R Blair, Department of Health and Human Services, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Ellen Leibenluft, Department of Health and Human Services, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-1-2010

Journal

Journal of abnormal child psychology

Volume

38

Issue

5

First Page

695

Last Page

706

URL with Digital Object Identifier

10.1007/s10802-010-9395-0

Abstract

Studying attention in the context of emotional stimuli may aid in differentiating pediatric bipolar disorder (BD) from severe mood dysregulation (SMD). SMD is characterized by chronic irritability, arousal, and hyper-reactivity; SMD youth frequently receive a BD diagnosis although they do not meet DSM-IV criteria for BD because they lack manic episodes. We compared 57 BD (14.4 +/- 2.9 years old, 56% male), 41 SMD (12.6 +/- 2.6 years old, 66% male), and 33 control subjects (13.7 +/- 2.5 years old, 52% male) using the Emotional Interrupt task, which examines how attention is impacted by positive, negative, or neutral distracters. We compared reaction time (RT) and accuracy and calculated attention interference scores by subtracting performance on neutral trials from emotional trials. Between-group analyses indicated that SMD subjects had significantly reduced attention interference from emotional distracters relative to BD and control subjects. Thus, attention in SMD youth was not modulated by emotional stimuli. This blunted response in SMD youth may contribute to their affective and behavioral dysregulation.

Citation of this paper:

Rich, B.A., Brotman, M.A., Dickstein, D.P. et al. Deficits in Attention to Emotional Stimuli Distinguish Youth with Severe Mood Dysregulation from Youth with Bipolar Disorder. J Abnorm Child Psychol 38, 695–706 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-010-9395-0