The Science & Treatment of Bipolar Disorder

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.8 • 26.2K Ratings

🗓️ 25 July 2022

⏱️ 139 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, I explain the biology, symptoms, causes and types of bipolar disorder (sometimes called bipolar depression). I discuss neuroplasticity and how the brain normally regulates mood, energy, and perceptions; then, I contrast that with the biology of bipolar disorder, which is characterized by extremes of energy and mood, e.g., mania and depression. I outline the mechanisms through which bipolar disorder manifests in the brain, including deficits of interoception and reduced connections between the parietal and limbic systems. I also outline how treatment options (such as lithium) work in part through homeostatic plasticity.’ I discuss not only lithium but also the treatment of bipolar with ketamine, different talk therapies, electroconvulsive therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and nutraceuticals, including Omega-3 and Inositol supplementation. This episode should interest anyone who has or knows someone with bipolar disorder and, more broadly, those interested in how the brain works to create a balance between thoughts, energy levels, focus, and mood. For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/huberman Thesis: https://takethesis.com/huberman Supplements from Momentous https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Bipolar Disorder (00:02:23) Momentous Supplements (00:03:42) Tool: Appetite Suppression & GLP-1, Parallel Pathways, Yerba Mate (00:10:23) AG1 (Athletic Greens), InsideTracker, Thesis (00:14:24) Prevalence & Severity of Bipolar Disorder (00:16:30) Bipolar Disorder I, Diagnostic Criteria of Mania (00:28:58) Bipolar Disorder II, Individual Variability (00:33:07) Bipolar I vs. Bipolar II: Manic, Depressive & Symptom-Free States (00:38:20) Consequences of Bipolar Disorder, Heritability (00:46:53) Bipolar Disorder vs. Borderline Personality Disorder (00:51:51) Mania & Depression, Negative Impacts (00:53:06) History of Lithium Treatment (01:02:44) Lithium Treatment & Side-Effects (01:05:05) Effects of Lithium: BDNF, Anti-inflammatory & Neuroprotection (01:10:10) Neural Circuits of Bipolar Disorder, Interoception, Hyper- vs. Hypoactivity (01:17:11) Neural States & Mania, Parietal Lobe & Limbic System (01:22:58) Homeostatic Plasticity, Synaptic Scaling, Lithium & Ketamine (01:36:00) Talk Therapies: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Family-Focused Therapy, Interpersonal & Social Rhythm Therapy (01:43:18) Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) (01:48:01) Psylocibin, Cannabis (01:51:50) Lifestyle Support, Supplements: Inositol & Omega-3 Fatty Acids (02:03:31) Omega-3s, Membrane Fluidity & Neuroplasticity (02:06:44) Mania, Creativity & Occupations (02:15:33) Bipolar Disorder: Diagnosis, Neural Circuits & Treatment (02:17:45) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous Supplements, Instagram, Twitter, Neural Network Newsletter Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac Disclaimer

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
0:08.8	I'm Andrew Huberman and I'm a professor of neurobiology and
0:12.3	Ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, we are going to be discussing bipolar disorder often called bipolar depression.
0:19.8	Bipolar depression is a condition in which people undergo massive shifts in their energy, their perception, and their mood.
0:27.6	However, it is very important to note that the shifts in mood energy and perception are all maladaptive.
0:34.0	They can often cause tremendous damage to the person suffering from bipolar disorder and
0:39.1	tremendous damage to the people in their lives.
0:42.0	Today, we're going to parse the biology that leads to the shifts in mood energy and perception and
0:48.5	we are going to talk about the various treatments that exist. Some of those treatments have been around for a very long time and indeed one of those treatments
0:55.7	lithium has an incredible back story about its discovery and
1:00.7	in understanding how lithium works and some of the ways in which it does not work well
1:05.4	it reveals a tremendous amount about how the brain works normally in all individuals.
1:10.1	So that's a miraculous story that I look forward to sharing with you. As we go forward in this discussion about bipolar disorder,
1:16.6	one everyone to keep in mind that it is a very severe condition. In fact, people suffering from bipolar disorder are at
1:23.0	20 to 30 times greater risk of suicide.
1:26.3	So today is a serious discussion and it's certainly one in which people who are suffering from manic bipolar disorder or who know people that are suffering from manic bipolar disorder
1:35.4	can benefit from. However, for those of you that might know people or who themselves suffer from major depression,
1:42.8	we will also be talking about important treatment developments for major depression.
1:46.6	Major depression is a very common thing for many people. In fact, most people will suffer from
1:52.5	depression of some sort at some point in their life, although not necessarily a major depressive episode and yet major depression is very common.
2:00.5	So you soon learn up to 20% of people will suffer from major depression. So today's discussion will encompass all of that and it will also encompass
2:08.8	basic brain mechanisms of neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to change in response to experience both for good and for worse and
	...

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