Do people with bipolar disorder report more intense emotions?

What is it about?

People with bipolar disorder are often thought to experience stronger emotional reactions than others. To test whether this is consistently true, we reviewed and combined results from 35 laboratory studies that measured emotional responses in people with bipolar disorder, people at risk for the condition, and people without mental health diagnoses. Across all studies, we found no overall difference in emotional reactions between people with and without bipolar disorder when emotions were measured in the laboratory. This means that, on average, people with bipolar disorder did not react more strongly to emotional situations than others. Instead, emotional differences depended on the context and methods used, such as the type of emotional stimulus and how responses were measured. These findings suggest that emotional differences in bipolar disorder are subtle and context-dependent, rather than consistently heightened. Because most studies were conducted in controlled laboratory environments and involved people whose mood symptoms were stable, real-world emotional experiences may not be fully captured in our review.

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Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Our results suggest that to truly understand emotional experiences in bipolar disorder, researchers and clinicians may need to move beyond laboratory tests and focus more on everyday emotional life, using tools like smartphone-based assessments and daily mood tracking. This shift could lead to more accurate theories, better research methods, and support the development of treatments and coping strategies that are better aligned with patients’ everyday emotional challenges.