Negative life events and time to recovery from episodes of bipolar disorder

The authors of the current study examined the impact of severe negative life events on time to recovery from episodes of bipolar disorder. Although negative life events have been shown to influence relapse in bipolar disorder, research has not focused on life events and recovery in bipolar disorder. The authors recruited 67 individuals with bipolar disorder during hospitalization and conducted monthly assessments for at least 1 year. Individuals with severe negative life events took more than 3 times as long to achieve recovery as those without severe life events, and the impact of life events was not mediated by medication compliance. These results reveal that the psychosocial environment may play a much larger role in the course of bipolar disorder than previous biological models have suggested.