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THE SCIENTIFIC QUESTION BEING STUDIED

Often, when we think and talk about mental health, we focus on mood and emotions. This is particularly true for bipolar disorder, which makes sense because bipolar disorder is most well recognised for fluctuations in mood. But there is another aspect of human functioning that is relevant to our mental health and wellbeing, especially in the context of mood disorders like bipolar disorder. That is, our ‘cognition’ – or put more simply, our ‘thinking skills’!

Thinking skills refer to mental functions like attention, information processing, memory, language and problem solving. Our brains and minds are incredible, ticking away and coordinating all these thinking skills to support us as we move through life. So, it is part of the human experience to have ups and downs with these skills. However, in recent years researchers have demonstrated that thinking skill difficulties can be particularly associated with bipolar disorder.

Most research on bipolar disorder has measured thinking skills using paper and pencil and computerised tasks, with around 40-60% of people in bipolar disorder studies having been found to have some thinking skill difficulties. However, the tests we currently use to measure thinking skills are imperfect, and are typically only used when conditions are optimal, such as when those being tested are well rested, in quiet rooms, and with lots of support from the person administering the test. In reality, thinking skills are relied on under far more complicated circumstances, and we find that despite being impactful on daily life, thinking skill difficulties can be dismissed by treating doctors, or not taken as seriously as other bipolar disorder symptoms.

Underestimating thinking skill difficulties and not understanding their full impact on the lived experience of bipolar disorder could be preventing the appropriate allocation of research attention and funding so that we can better understand the condition.

Therefore this study is surveying and gather extensive first-hand information on the lived experience of thinking skill difficulties in adults with bipolar disorder and related mental health conditions. Specifically, we want to:

i). understand more about how ups and downs in thinking skills impact life
ii). how they relate to other symptoms, and are dealt with by doctors
iii). what research lived experience experts think researchers should be doing to better understand them

This study is being conducted by the Mood Psychosis Spectrum Group, led by Associate Professor Tamsyn Van Rheenen at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

For more information, email Georgia Caruana (Postdoctoral Researcher and Study Coordinator) via mpsg-research@unimelb.edu.au.