Praxisrelevante aspekte der neurobiologie bipolarer störungen

It has become clear that the strict categorization of subcategories of affective disorders is not adequately reflecting the underlying neurobiology of these disorders. From biological view psychological disturbances are characterized by impairments on the level of neurotransmission, connectivity or protein synthesis. Today, a multifactorial pathogenesis of affective disorders is generally accepted, with genetic, biological and psychosocial factors to interacting in the development of individual disease symptoms. Like with other affective disorders, structural and functional brain changes have been reported bipolar disorders. In addition, changes in the entire cascade of neural transmission - from neurotransmitters and neuromodulators over receptor-coupled intracellular signal transduction to gene expression have been described. Untreated affective disorders are associated with both structural and functional changes in the brain. The goal of an interdisciplinary treatment-always involving both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy - consists of resetting those changes. This process can be lengthy; therefore a long-term treatment strategy is indicated.