Exploring day-to-day awe experiences in the context of personal recovery in bipolar disorder

Amelia, a Trainee Clinical Psychologist at the University of Liverpool is exploring if and how people with bipolar experience awe in their everyday life and how this affects personal recovery.

Awe can take many forms for people and be triggered by a variety of different objects, situations and people. Some examples are looking up at a waterfall, being in a forest surrounded by tall, ancient trees, gazing at the stars, standing at the top of a mountain, watching a sunrise, standing in a cathedral or admiring beautiful architecture, listening to a piece of music or being struck by a piece of art. People experience awe in many different ways for different people; you may experience awe in a different way to the definitions given.

To date, there have been limited studies on how experiencing awe in day-to-day life can affect bipolar recovery. This study aims to explore the association between experiencing awe and personal recovery from bipolar disorder using a daily diary over 30 days.

Requirements to participate:

• People who are over the age of 18.
• You have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and have experienced at least one episode of (hypo)mania and/or depressive episode.
• You are able to speak and understand English and live in the United Kingdon.
• You are not currently experiencing a (hypo)manic or depressive episode.

Expected commitment from participants:

Participants will be requested to complete a daily diary via Qualtrics over 30 days. An initial meeting is set up at the start of the study via Microsoft Teams for around 60 minutes. In this meeting we will discuss together:

• Clarifying what the study entails and answering any questions you may have.
• Limits of confidentiality. Confidentiality is paramount; however, it may need to be broken if the researcher feels that you or someone else is at risk of harm.
• Completing a short interview to verify your research diagnosis of bipolar. This will ask questions about how you experience bipolar including manic and depressive symptoms and number of episodes to date.
• Gaining consent to contact your GP to inform them that you are taking part in this study.
• Share the definition of awe that we are using in this study.
• Go over the daily diary that will be used, so that you can ask questions and clarify any issues.
• Arrange another meeting at the mid-way point of the study (around 2 weeks later) to check-in.

If you experience awe at any point during the study, you will be asked to complete another, separate questionnaire within 15 minutes of experiencing awe. This questionnaire will take around 5 minutes to complete.

The study can be set up online where we meet via Teams and the daily diaries are completed via an online platform. However, people may not have access to the internet so there is an option for the initial session to be setup via a telephone call and paper versions of the diary to be sent out via the post.

The diary can be completed at any time of the day that suits the participant, the researcher just asks that where possible it is the same time each day to help with capturing the best picture of your day.

Closing date to apply: April 2026