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Published on: December 2, 2015
Family functioning among adolescents with bipolar disorder.
Aimee E Sullivan1, David J Miklowitz1
1Department of Psychology.
Summary
Families with adolescents experiencing bipolar disorder show impaired cohesion and adaptability. High expressed emotion (EE) in parents correlates with poorer family functioning, suggesting targets for family therapy during recovery.
Area of Science:
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Family Psychology
- Mental Health Research
Background:
- Adolescent bipolar disorder (BD) significantly impacts family dynamics.
- Understanding family functioning during mood exacerbations is crucial for effective treatment.
- Expressed emotion (EE) is a known factor in various psychiatric disorders.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize family functioning in adolescents with bipolar disorder post-mood exacerbation.
- To examine the relationship between expressed emotion (EE) and family dynamics in these families.
- To identify potential therapeutic targets for family-focused interventions in early-onset BD.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study of 58 families with adolescents diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
- Data collection included measures of family conflict, cohesion, adaptability, and expressed emotion (EE).
- Comparison of family functioning scores with normative data from healthy families.
Main Results:
- Families with adolescents with BD exhibited significantly lower cohesion and adaptability compared to healthy families.
- Conflict levels were elevated but not significantly different from other clinic-referred families.
- High parental expressed emotion (EE), particularly critical comments, was associated with lower cohesion, adaptability, and higher conflict, independent of adolescent symptom severity.
Conclusions:
- Impaired family cohesion and adaptability are characteristic of families with adolescents experiencing bipolar disorder.
- Parental expressed emotion (EE) is a significant correlate of negative family functioning in this population.
- Family adaptability, cohesion, and conflict represent key targets for family-focused treatments in the post-episode phase of early-onset bipolar disorder.
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