Psychiatria pre prax 4/2014

Neurocognitive deficits in patients with bipolar disorder

In recent times there were published many reviews and original articles concerning about neurocognitive deficits in patients with bipolar affective disorder. However still the question of endophenotypes in bipolar disorder remains open, identification of neurocognitive changes may significantly contribute to a relevant diagnostics of such disorder. In this review we summarize actual knowledge in neurocognitive changes of bipolar patients. We would like to emphasize the importance of neuropsychological assessment in diagnostics of bipolar disorder mostly on executive functions mapping. We believe that neuropsychological assessment in bipolar patients need to be a standardized procedure. There is identified significant diversity in aplication of neuropsychological assessment in bipolar patients while authors have identified more cognitive domains that needed to be examined.

Keywords: bipolar affective disorder, executive functions, neurocognitive deficits, neuropsychological assessment.