Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T22:17:36.434Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Looking on the bright side and seeing it vividly: interpretation bias and involuntary mental imagery are related to risk for bipolar disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2019

Andrew D. Peckham Open the ORCID record for Andrew D. Peckham [Opens in a new window] ,
Kiana Modavi  and
Sheri L. Johnson
Andrew D. Peckham*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 115 Mill Street, Mail Stop 113, Belmont, MA 02478, USA
Kiana Modavi
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Sheri L. Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background:

Involuntary mental imagery is elevated among people with bipolar disorder, and has been shown to shape biases in interpretation of ambiguous information. However, it is not clear whether biases in interpretation of ambiguous scenarios can be observed in those at risk for bipolar disorder, or whether involuntary imagery is related to such a bias.

Aims:

In the present study, we extended a prominent model of bipolar cognition to an at-risk sample. We specifically tested whether positive interpretation bias and involuntary mental imagery are linked to a greater risk of bipolar disorder.

Method:

Young adults (N = 169) completed measures of risk for bipolar disorder (the Hypomanic Personality Scale [HPS]), interpretation bias, and involuntary mental imagery.

Results:

Higher scores on the HPS were significantly correlated with more positive interpretations of ambiguous scenarios (β = 0.29, p <. 01) and more frequent involuntary mental imagery (β = 0.22, p < .01). There was no evidence of an interaction between interpretation bias and mental imagery in predicting HPS score, β = .04, p = .62.

Conclusions:

Further research is warranted to determine if intrusive imagery or interpretation bias influence the development of bipolar disorder over time in those at risk.

Keywords

hypomaniainterpretation biasesmental imagerynon-clinical
Type
Main
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , March 2020 , pp. 203 - 215
Copyright
© British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Auerbach, R. P., Alonso, J., Axinn, W. G., Cuijpers, P., Ebert, D. D., Green, J. G., Hwang, I., Kessler, R. C., Liu, H., Mortier, P., Nock, M. K., Pinder-Amaker, S., Sampson, N. A., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Al-Hamzawi, A., Andrade, L. H., Benjet, C., Caldas-de-Almeida, J. M., Demyttenaere, K., Florescu, S., de Girolamo, G., Gureje, O., Haro, J. M., Karam, E. G., Kiejna, A., Kovess-Masfety, V., Lee, S., McGrath, J. J., O’Neill, S., Pennell, B.-E., Scott, K., ten Have, M., Torres, Y., Zaslavsky, A. M., Zarkov, Z., & Bruffaerts, R. (2016). Mental disorders among college students in the World Health Organization World Mental Health Surveys. Psychological Medicine, 46, 2955–2970. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291716001665 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders. Oxford, UK: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Berna, C., Lang, T. J., Goodwin, G. M., & Holmes, E. A. (2011). Developing a measure of interpretation bias for depressed mood: an ambiguous scenarios test. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 349–354. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.04.005 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brewin, C. R., Gregory, J. D., Lipton, M., & Burgess, N. (2010). Intrusive images in psychological disorders: characteristics, neural mechanisms, and treatment implications. Psychological Review, 117, 210–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018113 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Campellone, T. R., Peckham, A. D., & Johnson, S. L. (2018). Parsing positivity in the bipolar spectrum: the effect of context on social decision-making. Journal of Affective Disorders, 235, 316–322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.02.020 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, J. L., & Wade, T. D. (2015). The relationship between memory and interpretation biases, difficulties with emotion regulation, and disordered eating in young women. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 39, 853–862. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-015-9709-1 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cuellar, A. K., Johnson, S. L., & Winters, R. (2005). Distinctions between bipolar and unipolar depression. Clinical Psychology Review, 25, 307–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2004.12.002 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deeprose, C., & Holmes, E. A. (2010). An exploration of prospective imagery: the Impact of Future Events Scale. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 38, 201–209. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465809990671 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deeprose, C., Malik, A., & Holmes, E. A. (2011). Measuring intrusive prospective imagery using the Impact of Future Events Scale (IFES): psychometric properties and relation to risk for bipolar disorder. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 4, 187–196. https://doi.org/10.1521/ijct.2011.4.2.187 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Di Simplicio, M., Renner, F., Blackwell, S. E., Mitchell, H., Stratford, H. J., Watson, P., … & Holmes, E. A. (2016). An investigation of mental imagery in bipolar disorder: exploring ‘the mind’s eye’. Bipolar Disorders, 18, 669–683. https://doi.org/10.1111/bdi.12453 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodd, A. L., Mansell, W., Morrison, A. P., & Tai, S. (2011). Extreme appraisals of internal states and bipolar symptoms: the Hypomanic Attitudes and Positive Predictions Inventory. Psychological Assessment, 23, 635–645. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022972 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dutra, S. J., West, T. V., Impett, E. A., Oveis, C., Kogan, A., Keltner, D., & Gruber, J. (2014). Rose-colored glasses gone too far? Mania symptoms predict biased emotion experience and perception in couples. Motivation and Emotion, 38, 157–165. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-013-9363-4 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eckblad, M. & Chapman, L.J. (1986). Development and validation of a scale for hypomanic personality. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 214–222. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.95.3.214 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Feldman, G. C., Joormann, J., & Johnson, S. L. (2008). Responses to positive affect: a self-report measure of rumination and dampening. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 32, 507–525. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-006-9083-0.Responses CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
García-Blanco, A. C., Perea, M., & Livianos, L. (2013). Mood-congruent bias and attention shifts in the different episodes of bipolar disorder. Cognition & Emotion, 27, 1114–1121. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2013.764281 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Giovanelli, A., Hoerger, M., Johnson, S. L., & Gruber, J. (2013). Impulsive responses to positive mood and reward are related to mania risk. Cognition & Emotion, 27, 1091–1104. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2013.772048 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gregory, J. D., Brewin, C. R., Mansell, W., & Donaldson, C. (2010). Intrusive memories and images in bipolar disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 48, 698–703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2010.04.005 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gruber, J., Dutra, S., Eidelman, P., Johnson, S. L., & Harvey, A. G. (2011a). Emotional and physiological responses to normative and idiographic positive stimuli in bipolar disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 133, 437–442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2011.04.045 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gruber, J., Eidelman, P., Johnson, S. L., Smith, B., & Harvey, A. G. (2011b). Hooked on a feeling: rumination about positive and negative emotion in inter-episode bipolar disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120, 956–961. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023667 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hales, S. A., Deeprose, C., Goodwin, G. M., & Holmes, E. A. (2011). Cognitions in bipolar affective disorder and unipolar depression: imagining suicide. Bipolar Disorders, 13, 651–661. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1399-5618.2011.00954.x CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hertel, P. T., Mathews, A., Peterson, S., & Kintner, K. (2003). Transfer of training emotionally biased interpretations. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 17, 775–784. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.905 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higier, R. G., Jimenez, A. M., Hultman, C. M., Borg, J., Roman, C., Kizling, I., … & Cannon, T. D. (2014). Enhanced neurocognitive functioning and positive temperament in twins discordant for bipolar disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 171, 1191–1198. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2014.13121683 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hindash, A. H. C., & Amir, N. (2012). Negative interpretation bias in individuals with depressive symptoms. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 36, 502–511. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-011-9397-4 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirsch, C. R., Meeten, F., Krahé, C., & Reeder, C. (2016). Resolving ambiguity in emotional disorders: the nature and role of interpretation biases. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 12, 281–305. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093436 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holmes, E. A., Deeprose, C., Fairburn, C. G., Wallace-Hadrill, S. M. A., Bonsall, M. B., Geddes, J. R., & Goodwin, G. M. (2011). Mood stability versus mood instability in bipolar disorder: a possible role for emotional mental imagery. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49, 707–713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2011.06.008 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holmes, E. A., Geddes, J. R., Colom, F., & Goodwin, G. M. (2008). Mental imagery as an emotional amplifier: application to bipolar disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 1251–1258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2008.09.005 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holmes, E. A., Lang, T. J., & Shah, D. M. (2009). Developing interpretation bias modification as a ‘cognitive vaccine’ for depressed mood: imagining positive events makes you feel better than thinking about them verbally. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 118, 76–88. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012590 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, E. A., & Mathews, A. (2010). Mental imagery in emotion and emotional disorders. Clinical Psychology Review, 30, 349–362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.01.001 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, S. L., & Carver, C. S. (2006). Extreme goal setting and vulnerability to mania among undiagnosed young adults. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 30, 377–395. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-006-9044-7 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, S. L., Carver, C. S., Joormann, J., & Cuccaro, M. (2014a). A genetic analysis of the validity of the Hypomanic Personality Scale. Bipolar Disorders, 17, 331–339. https://doi.org/10.1111/bdi.12251 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, S. L., Cuellar, A. K., & Peckham, A. D. (2014b). Risk factors for bipolar disorder. In Gotlib, I. H. & Hammen, C. L. (eds), Handbook of Depression (3rd edn, pp. 315–333). New York, New York, USA: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, S. L., & Jones, S. (2009). Cognitive correlates of mania risk: are responses to success, positive moods, and manic symptoms distinct or overlapping? Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65, 891–905. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, S. L., Tharp, J. A., Peckham, A. D., & McMaster, K. J. (2016). Emotion in bipolar I disorder: implications for functional and symptom outcomes. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 125, 40–52. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000116 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jones, S., Mansell, W., & Waller, L. (2006). Appraisal of hypomania-relevant experiences: development of a questionnaire to assess positive self-dispositional appraisals in bipolar and behavioural high risk samples. Journal of Affective Disorders, 93, 19–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2006.01.017 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kelly, R. E., Mansell, W., Sadhnani, V., & Wood, A. M. (2012). Positive and negative appraisals of the consequences of activated states uniquely relate to symptoms of hypomania and depression. Cognition & Emotion, 26, 899–906. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2011.613918.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kelly, R. E., Mansell, W., Wood, A. M., Alatiq, Y., Dodd, A., & Searson, R. (2011). Extreme positive and negative appraisals of activated states interact to discriminate bipolar disorder from unipolar depression and non-clinical controls. Journal of Affective Disorders, 134, 438–443. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2011.05.042 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kirkland, T., Gruber, J., & Cunningham, W. A. (2015). Comparing happiness and hypomania risk: a study of extraversion and neuroticism aspects. PLoS ONE, 10, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0132438 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kleim, B., Thörn, H. A., & Ehlert, U. (2014). Positive interpretation bias predicts well-being in medical interns. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 640. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00640 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kohler, C. G., Hoffman, L. J., Eastman, L. B., Healey, K., & Moberg, P. J. (2011). Facial emotion perception in depression and bipolar disorder: a quantitative review. Psychiatry Research, 188, 303–309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2011.04.019 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kwapil, T. R., Miller, M. B., Zinser, M. C., Chapman, L. J., Chapman, J., & Eckblad, M. (2000). A longitudinal study of high scorers on the hypomanic personality scale. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 222–226. https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-843X.109.2.222 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lyon, H. M., Startup, M., & Bentall, R. P. (1999). Social cognition and the manic defense: attributions, selective attention, and self-schema in bipolar affective disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108, 273–282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MacLeod, C., & Mathews, A. (2012). Cognitive bias modification approaches to anxiety. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 8, 189–217. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032511-143052 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mansell, W. (2006). The Hypomanic Attitudes and Positive Predictions Inventory (HAPPI): a pilot study to select cognitions that are elevated in individuals with bipolar disorder compared to non-clinical controls. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 34, 467–476. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465806003109 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mansell, W., Morrison, A. P., Reid, G., Lowens, I., & Tai, S. (2007). The interpretation of, and responses to, changes in internal states: an integrative cognitive model of mood swings and bipolar disorders. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 35, 515–539. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465807003827 Google Scholar
Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (2005). Cognitive vulnerability to emotional disorders. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1, 167–195. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.143916 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCarthy-Jones, S., Knowles, R., & Rowse, G. (2012). More than words? Hypomanic personality traits, visual imagery and verbal thought in young adults. Consciousness and Cognition, 21, 1375–1381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2012.07.004 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muhtadie, L., Johnson, S. L., Carver, C. S., Gotlib, I. H., & Ketter, T. A. (2014). A profile approach to impulsivity in bipolar disorder: the key role of strong emotions. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 129, 100–108. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.12136 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Murphy, F. C., Sahakian, B. J., Rubinsztein, J. S., Michael, A., Rogers, R. D., Robbins, T. W., & Paykel, E. S. (1999). Emotional bias and inhibitory control processes in mania and depression. Psychological Medicine, 29, 1307–1321.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Palmier-Claus, J. E., Berry, K., Bucci, S., Mansell, W., & Varese, F. (2016). Relationship between childhood adversity and bipolar affective disorder: systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 209, 454–459. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.115.179655 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peckham, A. D., Johnson, S. L., & Tharp, J. A. (2016). Eye tracking of attention to emotion in bipolar I disorder: links to emotion regulation and anxiety comorbidity. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 9, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pictet, A., Coughtrey, A. E., Mathews, A., & Holmes, E. A. (2011). Fishing for happiness: the effects of generating positive imagery on mood and behaviour. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49, 885–891. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2011.10.003 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Piff, P. K., Purcell, A., Gruber, J., Hertenstein, M. J., & Keltner, D. (2012). Contact high: mania proneness and positive perception of emotional touches. Cognition & Emotion, 26, 1116–1123. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2011.633987 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Purcell, J. R., Lohani, M., Musket, C., Hay, A. C., Isaacowitz, D. M., & Gruber, J. (2018). Lack of emotional gaze preferences using eye-tracking in remitted bipolar I disorder. International Journal of Bipolar Disorders, 6, 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40345-018-0123-y CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pyle, A., & Mansell, W. (2010). Cognitive biases in hypomanic personality: preliminary findings indicating the relevance of self-versus-other encoding and high-versus-low levels of activation. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 38, 459–472. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465810000299 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rude, S. S., Wenzlaff, R. M., Gibbs, B., Vane, J., & Whitney, T. (2002). Negative processing biases predict subsequent depressive symptoms. Cognition & Emotion, 16, 423–440. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930143000554 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schönfelder, S., Langer, J., Schneider, E. E., & Wessa, M. (2017). Mania risk is characterized by an aberrant optimistic update bias for positive life events. Journal of Affective Disorders, 218, 313–321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2017.04.073 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schoth, D. E., & Liossi, C. (2017). A systematic review of experimental paradigms for exploring biased interpretation of ambiguous information with emotional and neutral associations. Frontiers in Psychology, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00171 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinman, S. A., & Teachman, B. A. (2010). Modifying interpretations among individuals high in anxiety sensitivity. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24, 71–78. https://doi.org/doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.08.008 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Trevisani, D. P., Johnson, S. L., & Carver, C. S. (2008). Positive mood induction and facial affect recognition among students at risk for mania. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 32, 639–650. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-007-9140-3 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walsh, M. A., DeGeorge, D. P., Barrantes-Vidal, N., & Kwapil, T. R. (2015). A 3-year longitudinal study of risk for bipolar spectrum psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 124, 486–497. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000045 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1999). The PANAS-X: Manual for the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule-Expanded Form. Ames: The University of Iowa.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, M., & Coryell, W. (1987). The Inventory to Diagnose Depression (IDD): a self-report scale to diagnose major depressive disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 55–59. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.55.1.55 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.