"Bipolar disorder – formerly known as manic depression – is a chronic, recurrent mental illness characterised by extreme swings in mood. The condition is thought to affect at least one in every 100 adults worldwide and has the highest rate of suicide among psychiatric disorders.
But despite its prevalence and severity, little is known about the processes underlying the disorder, while treatments remain limited. Researchers at Oxford University have set out to address this by using mathematical modelling to better understand the 'mood dynamics' of people with bipolar disorder.
In a new paper published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface, academics investigate how the subjective experience of mood can be understood using oscillators that 'map' the fluctuations in mood reported by participants via the QIDS (Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology) questionnaire system..."
Extract taken from the Oxford Science blog. Read more here.
Professor John Geddes says: "The application of mathematical approaches to mood data is very exciting. They provide insight into the nature of the mood instability that occurs in bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses and will help us understand the mechanism of the illness and develop better treatments. These analytic approaches have been made possible by advances in our ability to capture high resolution data from patients remotely, the engagement of patients and our colleagues in other academic disciplines and the support of our funders the NIHR and Wellcome Trust."
Read about mood monitoring technology True Colours