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This page is an AI-assisted Turkish summary of the study presented at the 26th World Congress of Psychiatry. The study belongs to the presenting authors; please refer to the original source when citing it.

Rapid cycling bipolar disorder: clinical presentation

Rcbd: clinical presentation

Rapid cycling bipolar disorder is characterized by a predominantly depressive course, brief periods of euthymia, a high burden of comorbidity, and an increased risk of suicide; its recognition requires a longitudinal perspective.

This talk addresses the marked heterogeneity in the clinical presentation of rapid cycling bipolar disorder (RCBD), defined as the occurrence of four or more mood episodes within a 12-month period; this heterogeneity makes recognition challenging in routine practice. Patients often exhibit a predominantly depressive course, shorter periods of euthymia, mixed mood states, and frequent polarity shifts. Compared with non-rapid cycling bipolar disorder, RCBD is associated with an earlier age at onset, greater psychiatric and medical comorbidity, more pronounced functional impairment, higher hospitalization rates, and an increased risk of suicide. Sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances, hormonal factors, psychosocial stressors, and substance use may influence the clinical expression and course of the illness. The presentation reviews characteristic patterns of mood episodes, mixed features, interepisode functioning, and common comorbidities, as well as sex differences, depressive predominance, and longitudinal course patterns; it also discusses the challenges posed by fluctuating symptom profiles and the impact of RCBD on quality of life and psychosocial functioning. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of a longitudinal perspective in bipolar disorder and the need for a clinical framework to identify patterns that may remain hidden within presentations that appear to consist solely of isolated mood episodes.

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