Impaired perception of affective prosody in remitted patients with bipolar disorder

Patients with bipolar disorder present deficits in facial emotion perception, both during a manic episode as well as upon recovery. Our goal in the present study was to investigate the ability of remitted patients with bipolar disorder to perceive affective prosody and to explore potential differences in the specific emotions that are troublesome for them. Participants included 19 patients with bipolar disorder I, currently in remission, and 22 healthy comparison subjects, matched on age, education, and gender. An affective prosody test (APT) was administered to all participants. Bipolar patients had significantly lower overall scores on the APT than healthy individuals. This impairment was specific to female patients and certain emotions (e.g., fear and surprise).