Keeping Up To Date With Bipolar Disorder

Mike Henry, MD, discussed 3 themes at the intersection of bipolar disorder, clinical trial methodology, and artificial intelligence (AI): screening for bipolar diathesis in clinical practice, a learning health network initiative, and the use of AI to improve clinical trial rater reliability.

Henry described his clinical approach to identifying a potential bipolar diathesis in patients presenting with depression, focusing on screening for periods of reduced sleep need accompanied by irritability or elevated mood.¹ He emphasized that this line of inquiry serves as a gateway to a broader assessment of bipolar symptoms—a critical step given the well-documented risks of misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment in this population.

Henry discussed the Bipolar Action Network, an initiative being developed by Andrew Nierenberg at the Dauten Family Center for Bipolar Treatment Innovation at Massachusetts General Hospital, for which Henry serves as medical director.² The network is designed as a learning health system enabling rapid, real-world evaluation of emerging treatments as they enter clinical practice. Key goals include fast-fail identification of ineffective therapies and generation of insights into which patient subpopulations are most likely to benefit from specific interventions. Henry expressed strong enthusiasm for the project and characterized it as among the most significant ongoing developments in the bipolar disorder field, particularly when combined with an expanding pharmacological pipeline targeting novel mechanisms.

Henry also highlighted presentations examining the use of AI to improve rater performance in clinical trials. He noted that interrater variability represents a persistent methodological challenge that can obscure treatment signals, and that AI-driven feedback systems offering raters individualized performance data represent a promising approach to improving reliability and data quality.

Finally, Henry described his personal use of AI as a literature search and synthesis tool, noting that it substantially reduces the time required to retrieve and organize research information.

Dr Henry is a psychiatrist at Mass General Brigham Hospital and medical director of the Dauten Family Center for Bipolar Treatment Innovation.

References

1. Woo YS, Chae JH, Jun TY, et al. The bipolar diathesis of treatment-resistant major depressive disorder. Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract. 2008;12(2):142-6.

2. Bipolar Action Network. Accessed June 11, 2026. https://bipolaractionnetwork.org/