Untreated bipolar disorder may shrink the brain

Researchers discover people with bipolar disorder — or manic depression — suffer from an accelerated shrinking of their brain, according to an article on Psychcentral.com.

The study shows for the first time that bipolar disorder — a condition characterized by periods of depression and periods of mania — is associated with a reduction in brain tissue and proves that the changes get progressively worse with each relapse.

This discovery has implications not only for the way we research the disease, but may also impact the way this condition is treated.
The University of Edinburgh study is published in the Journal of Biological Psychiatry.