Bipolar disorder (BD) has high genetic heritability but the influence of early environmental risk factors is unclear. Mothers with post-partum depression have difficulties with recognizing infant displays of emotion, which may contribute to disturbances in the mother-infant relation.

The Mother-infant Interaction, affective cognition and attachment Postpartum in new mothers with bipolar Affective Disorder (MIPAD) study investigates for the first time whether new mothers with BD display aberrant neural and cognitive processing of emotional information using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and neurocognitive tests, and whether this is related to disturbances in the early mother-infant interaction and child development.