Understanding Bipolar Disorder With The Scientists Driving Innovation

The Anxious Achiever

Morra Aarons-Mele

Careers, Management, Mental Health, Business, Health & Fitness

4.7 • 600 Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Over 40 million Americans have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and many more go undiagnosed. This episode takes a deep dive into what we know (and don’t know) about bipolar I and II, why science has lagged behind, and what a groundbreaking new initiative—BD²: Breakthrough Discoveries for Thriving with Bipolar Disorder—is doing to change that. Host Morra Aarons-Mele speaks with Dr. Mark Frye, psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Dr. Kate Burdick, Distinguished Chair in Psychiatry and the Vice Chair for Research in Psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA, and neuroscientist and BD² initiative lead Dr. Cara Altimus about the genetics, biology, and lived experience of bipolar disorder, and what it means to truly thrive with a complex mental illness. We discuss promising research directions, including GLP-1s, cognitive trajectories, and precision psychiatry. Key Quote: " It’s not enough to reduce the bad. We’re aiming to increase the good—to help people with bipolar disorder live the full lives they want to live." — Dr. Cara Altimus Breakthrough Discoveries for Thriving with Bipolar Disorder (BD²) is a collaborative initiative building the scientific foundation for better treatments and better lives for people with bipolar disorder. Learn more and get involved at https://www.bipolardiscoveries.org/. Listeners who live with bipolar disorder can learn more about BD2' and their ongoing study described in this episode by visiting bipolardiscoveries.org or sending an email to info@bipolardiscoveries.org. The study is taking place in partnership with 11 medical institutions across 44 locations in the U.S. and Canada. The medical institutions are: Mass General Brigham (Massachusetts) McLean Hospital (Massachusetts) Johns Hopkins University (Maryland) Mayo Clinic (Minnesota and Arizona) University of California Los Angeles (California) University of California San Diego (California) University of Michigan (Michigan) The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (Texas) The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research (New York) The University of Texas at Austin (Texas) University of Cincinnati/Lindner Center of HOPE (Ohio) Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (Canada) Listeners can also sign up for the BD2’ newsletter, Thrive Updates, at bipolardiscoveries.org and learn more by following on LinkedIn, BlueSky, and X at BD2Discoveries. Timestamps: 05:31 Understanding Bipolar Disorder: Definitions and Types 14:48 The Role of Genetics in Bipolar Disorder 20:57 Research Funding and Its Impact on Bipolar Disorder 26:51 Stigma Surrounding Bipolar Disorder and Its Effects 32:07 Breaking the Stigma of Mental Illness 36:51 Thriving with Bipolar Disorder 42:12 The Integrated Network: A New Approach to Bipolar Research 47:39 Shifting Perspective From Symptom Reduction to Thriving 53:46 Understanding the Complexities of Bipolar Disorder

Transcript

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0:00.0	Today I speak with scientists at the absolute bleeding edge of research into this, frankly, much misunderstood illness.
0:18.9	I speak with Dr. Kara Altamist, who leads the initiative BD Squared,
0:24.7	breakthrough discoveries for thriving with bipolar disorder at the Milken Institute,
0:30.3	and her colleagues, Dr. Mark Fry, a psychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic, and Dr. Kate Burdick,
0:36.7	who is based at the Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
0:42.1	We go through some of the myths and emerging truths of bipolar. We talk about the frequent comorbidity of anxiety in people with bipolar, as well as the comorbidity of ADHD.
0:56.8	And the truth is, there is so much more to learn. And so the doctors here will talk a little bit
1:03.4	about how perhaps you, if you manage bipolar, can get involved. I want to also mention that bipolar people are often coded for leadership.
1:17.5	We may just want to live normal, healthy lives like everyone else, but we are also able to be
1:26.4	great leaders at work.
1:30.1	Here's my conversation with the BD Squared team.
1:34.6	Hi, everyone.
1:36.0	Thank you so much for joining me.
1:37.8	I'm really excited to talk about a topic that is near and dear to my heart
1:41.4	and also to people at my audience.
1:45.0	I'd love to start just with a brief introduction of who you are and the work that you do.
1:52.1	And Mark, you popped into my screen, so why don't we start with you?
1:56.6	All right.
1:57.5	Hi, Mora.
1:58.4	I'm Mark Fry, and I'm a psychiatrist at Mayo Clinic, have been working
2:03.0	with individuals living with bipolar disorder for close to 25 years now. It is an area of interest
2:12.4	that is near and dear to my heart. Part of my role with this group today
	...

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