What research is NIMH doing to improve treatments for bipolar disorder?

Scientists are working to identify new targets for improving current medications or developing new treatments for bipolar disorder.^49,50 In addition, NIMH researchers have made promising advances toward finding fast-acting medication treatment. In a small study of people with bipolar disorder whose symptoms had not responded to prior treatments, a single dose of ketamine—an anesthetic medication—significantly reduced symptoms of depression in as little as 40 minutes.⁵¹ These effects lasted about a week on average.

Ketamine itself is unlikely to become widely available as a treatment because it can cause serious side effects at high doses, such as hallucinations. However, scientists are working to understand how the drug works on the brain in an effort to develop treatments with fewer side effects and that act similarly to ketamine. Such medications could also be used for longer term management of symptoms.

In addition, NIMH is working to better understand bipolar disorder and other mental disorders by spearheading the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Project, which is an ongoing effort to map our current understanding of the brain circuitry that is involved in behavioral and cognitive functioning. By essentially breaking down mental disorders into their component pieces—RDoC aims to add to the knowledge we have gained from more traditional research approaches that focus solely on understanding mental disorders based on symptoms. The hope is that by changing the way we approach mental disorders, RDoC will help us open the door to new targets of preventive and treatment interventions.

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