The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Research

Offspring Bipolar Study

Specialists at the Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders are interested in improving the identification and treatment of children with bipolar disorder. The Offspring Bipolar Study is one of two future studies at the center that will directly work towards this goal. This study looks at healthy children who have at least one parent with bipolar disorder, making the child more likely to develop the illness. By safely monitoring regions of the brains of these children and of children who have no family history of mental illnesses, researchers may be able to identify biological differences that occur in a child before bipolar disorder is developed.