Advancing Sleep and Emotion Regulation for Youth with Bipolar Disorder

Delainey Wescott, PhD is a postdoctoral scholar on the Translational Research Training in Sleep and Circadian Science T32 in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on disrupted sleep and circadian rhythms as mechanisms and treatment targets in unipolar and bipolar mood disorders. Dr. Wescott completed her clinical psychology internship at Western Psychiatric Hospital. During her rotation with the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Spectrum Service, Dr. Wescott co-developed a brief intervention to improve sleep and emotion regulation in adolescents with bipolar spectrum disorders with Lilianna Rubio, LCSW.

As an AIM Clinical Science Fellow, Dr. Wescott will test the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of TERRA: Targeting Emotion & Rhythm Regulation in Adolescents.

Project summary

Youth with early-onset bipolar disorder benefit from early interventions, but current evidence-based treatments are time intensive and costly, leading to high dropout rates. Disrupted sleep and emotion dysregulation are promising treatment targets for early-onset bipolar disorder given their role in developing and maintaining mood episodes. Yet, current treatments target sleep and emotion regulation separately, resulting in untreated symptoms that can predict future mood episodes.

Dr. Wescott’s AIM Fellowship plans to address this gap by testing the feasibility, acceptability, target engagement, and preliminary efficacy of a brief intervention, Targeting Emotion and Rhythm Regulation in Adolescents (TERRA) for youth with bipolar disorder engaged in outpatient care. TERRA integrates the most effective treatment components for youth with bipolar disorder: psychoeducation, emotion regulation skills, and transdiagnostic sleep/circadian strategies and focuses on the bidirectional relationship between sleep and emotions. Dr. Wescott will conduct an open pilot trial to test whether TERRA can reduce depression and hypo/mania symptoms by regularizing sleep and improving emotion regulation.

Impact

Distilling evidence-based treatments into their essential components may improve the scalability and implementation of treatments in real-world clinical settings. By targeting bidirectional treatment targets, TERRA has potential to quicken treatment response. Dr. Wescott plans to build on her findings to refine and disseminate brief, evidence-based treatments for youth with bipolar disorder.  

“AIM Youth Mental Health’s commitment to translating research to clinical care for youth is evident in their continued support of clinical research. I am delighted to have the opportunity to pilot TERRA and empower youth to learn and apply skills targeting sleep and emotion regulation.” – Dr. Delainey Wescott