Depression, Bipolar Disorder Might Make Your Thinking 'Fuzzy'

Issues stemming from certain mental illnesses can cause fuzzy thinking, according to recent findings published in the journal Brain. Researchers found that it was not uncommon for people with depression or bipolar disorder even to complain that their thinking had become less sharp, with brain scans indicating that activity in parts involved with executive functioning, including working memory, problem solving and reasoning were significantly impacted by the two mental health conditions.

For the study, University of Michigan researchers gave 612 women a test that involved prolonged concentration. Participants with either depression or bipolar disorder did equally bad on the test, indicating that the two disorders shared some similarites, despite a range of different symptoms and issues with each. 

Statistics show that roughly one in 10 Americans are affected by depression, with over 80 percent of individuals not receiving any treatment for the issue. While close to 5.7 million Americans are estimated to be affected by bipolar disorder, according to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance.

"These findings support the idea of seeing mood disorders dimensionally, as a continuum of function to dysfunction across illnesses that are more alike than distinct," lead study author author Kelly Ryan, PhD, a neuropsychologist, said in a news release.

Researchers also took 52 brain scans of the women as they were doing the test, which showed how depression or bipolar disorders affected different levels of activity in the brain's right poster parietal cortex when compared with healthy participants.

The studies belong to works supporting the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain criteria, a project that finds new ways to classify mental disorders that are independent of the diagnostic codes found in the DSM-5 or a potential help in the classification of an "intermediate phenotype" for certain mood disorders. 

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