Neurobiological Evidence for the Primacy of Mania Hypothesis

Title:Neurobiological Evidence for the Primacy of Mania Hypothesis

Volume: 15 Issue: 3

Author(s): Georgios D. Kotzalidis, Chiara Rapinesi, Valeria Savoja, Ilaria Cuomo, Alessio Simonetti, Elisa Ambrosi, Isabella Panaccione, Silvia Gubbini, Pietro De Rossi, Lavinia De Chiara, Delfina Janiri, Gabriele Sani, Alexia E. Koukopoulos, Giovanni Manfredi, Matteo Caloro, Lucia Pancheri, Antonella Puzella, Gemma Callovini, Gloria Angeletti and Antonio Del Casale

Affiliation:

Keywords: Mania, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Superiority Illusion, Primacy of Mania Hypothesis, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).

Abstract: Background: Athanasios Koukopoulos proposed the primacy of mania hypothesis (PoM) in a 2006 book chapter and later, in two peer-reviewed papers with Nassir Ghaemi and other collaborators. This hypothesis supports that in bipolar disorder, mania leads to depression, while depression does not lead to mania.

Objective: To identify evidence in literature that supports or falsifies this hypothesis.

Method: We searched the medical literature (PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library) for peer-reviewed papers on the primacy of mania, the default mode function of the brain in normal people and in bipolar disorder patients, and on illusion superiority until 6 June, 2016. Papers resulting from searches were considered for appropriateness to our objective. We adopted the PRISMA method for our review. The search for consistency with PoM was filtered through the neurobiological results of superiority illusion studies.

Results: Out of a grand total of 139 records, 59 were included in our analysis. Of these, 36 were of uncertain value as to the primacy of mania hypothesis, 22 favoured it, and 1 was contrary, but the latter pooled patients in their manic and depressive phases, so to invalidate possible conclusions about its consistency with regard to PoM. All considered studies were not focused on PoM or superiority illusion, hence most of their results were, as expected, unrelated to the circuitry involved in superiority illusion. A considerable amount of evidence is consistent with the hypothesis, although indirectly so. Limitations. Only few studies compared manic with depressive phases, with the majority including patients in euthymia.

Conclusion: It is possible that humans have a natural tendency for elation/optimism and positive selfconsideration, that are more akin to mania; the depressive state could be a consequence of frustrated or unsustainable mania. This would be consistent with PoM.

Cite this article as:

Kotzalidis D. Georgios , Rapinesi Chiara , Savoja Valeria , Cuomo Ilaria , Simonetti Alessio , Ambrosi Elisa , Panaccione Isabella , Gubbini Silvia , De Rossi Pietro , De Chiara Lavinia , Janiri Delfina , Sani Gabriele , E. Koukopoulos Alexia , Manfredi Giovanni , Caloro Matteo , Pancheri Lucia , Puzella Antonella , Callovini Gemma , Angeletti Gloria and Del Casale Antonio , Neurobiological Evidence for the Primacy of Mania Hypothesis, Current Neuropharmacology 2017; 15 (3) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1570159X14666160708231216

DOI https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1570159X14666160708231216	Print ISSN 1570-159X
Publisher Name Bentham Science Publisher	Online ISSN 1875-6190