From the Guest Editor: Special Issue on Bipolar Disorders

This issue concentrates on recent developments in the field of bipolar disorders. Despite substantial advances in the past several years, patients with bipolar disorders still remain among the most challenging for practicing psychiatrists. We still do not understand the specific risk factors and mechanisms involved in this severe mental illness. Pharmacological treatments and psychosocial interventions, generally best used in combination, now help many of our patients to get better and live more stable lives, but, yet, for many of these individuals outcomes are still suboptimal.

In our first article, Dr. Kate Burdick and her team at Mount Sinai School of Medicine review recent advances in the neurobiology of bipolar disorder, with a focus on neuroimaging and neurocognitive research, as well as genetic studies. Then Drs. Rodrigo Mansur and Roger McIntyre from University of Toronto discuss the problem of metabolic abnormalities that our patients frequently have, with a focus on possible interventions to ameliorate their physical health—our patients generally have a shortened lifespan by as many as 10–15 years. Next, Dr. Flavio Kapczinski and I and our team at the University of Texas in Houston discuss recent models that look into staging bipolar disorder as a possibly more meaningful way to plan for long-term management and more appropriate interventions. Dr. Melissa DelBello and her colleagues at University of Cincinnati discuss advances in the management of children with bipolar disorder—in this area, great hope for early detection and more effective, early interventions remain our best bet forward, in the hope that understanding this window of opportunity will lead to better outcomes for kids who suffer from this severe illness. Last, Drs. David Miklowitz and Michael Gitlin from University of California in Los Angeles summarize the status of available psychosocial interventions that target patients with bipolar disorder and discuss new possibilities moving forward.

I am thankful for the opportunity to be the guest editor of this issue of FOCUS and very grateful to our outstanding colleagues who contributed their articles. We trust that you will find our focus on bipolar disorder of great utility to your practice and hope that it will have a positive impact on the care of our patients.