Objective To understand disorder-unique and common pathophysiology, studies in multiple patient groups with overlapping symptoms are needed. Deficits in emotion processing and hyperarousal symptoms are prominent features of bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and severe mood dysregulation. The authors compared amygdala response during emotional and nonemotional ratings of neutral faces in youths with these disorders as well as a group of healthy comparison youths. Method Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal in the amygdala was examined in children with bipolar disorder (N=43), ADHD (N=18), and severe mood dysregulation (N=29) and healthy comparison subjects (N=37). During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), participants attended to emotional and nonemotional aspects of neutral faces. Results While rating subjective fear of neutral faces, youths with ADHD demonstrated left amygdala hyperactivity relative to the other three groups, whereas youths with severe mood dysregulation demonstrated hypoactivity. Conclusions These findings support the role of unique neural correlates in face-emotion processing among youths with bipolar disorder, ADHD, and severe mood dysregulation.

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Sensitizing young adults about sleep hygiene knowledge and helpful sleep attitudes may have the potential to instill long-lasting healthy sleep practices. Towards these ends, evaluation of psychoeducational program "Sleep 101" tailored to college students was undertaken. Following two weeks of sleep-log recordings, participants were randomly assigned to a Sleep 101 (experimental) condition or a sleep monitoring (control) condition. The Sleep 101 condition was comprised of two 90-minute workshops aimed to educate students about healthy sleep practices, helpful thoughts about sleep, and ways to improve sleep. The sleep monitoring group received a sleep hygiene handout and completed sleep logs for the study duration. Sleep 101 participants endorsed fewer maladaptive beliefs and attitudes about sleep, increased sleep hygiene knowledge, and reduced sleep onset latency compared to the sleep monitoring participants. Brief psychoeducational courses may be a cost-effective way to alleviate current, and/or prevent future, sleep problems in young adults.

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