Irritable Mood and Subthreshold Hypomanic Episodes Correlate with More Severe Major Depression

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Alessandro Serretti ◽  
Diana De Ronchi ◽  
Paolo Olgiati

Introduction: Irritable mood (IM) and subthreshold hypomanic symptoms are reported in half and two-fifths of major depressed subjects respectively, but their clinical and prognostic meanings remain unclear. The aim of this study was to test the clinical usefulness of 2 specifiers in DSM-IV major depressive disorder (MDD): IM occurring during an index episode (IM+) and lifetime episodes of elated mood or IM with at least 2 concurrent hypomanic symptoms (subthreshold hypomanic episodes [SHEs]). Method: We included 482 outpatients with MDD participating in the Combining Medications to Enhance Depression Outcome study (mean age 43.14 ± 12.46 years, 144 males – 30%). The main aim of the original study was to test whether 2 different medications when given in combination as the first treatment step, compared to 1 medication, would improve antidepressant response. Results: IM + subjects (N = 349; 70%) were younger and more often females, with a more severe depression, a more marked social impairment, and more psychiatric comorbidities. The IM + group was also characterized by higher levels of suicidal ideation and more cases of emotional abuse. The combination of IM+ and SHEs was associated with an even more severe clinical picture. Limitations include the post hoc method, incomplete assessment of bipolar validators (e.g., family history of bipolar illness), personality disorders and suicide attempts. Conclusions: The presence of IM and SHEs in MDD correlate with an overall more severe clinical condition.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brandon J. Coombes ◽  
Matej Markota ◽  
J. John Mann ◽  
Colin Colby ◽  
Eli Stahl ◽  
...  

AbstractBipolar disorder (BD) has high clinical heterogeneity, frequent psychiatric comorbidities, and elevated suicide risk. To determine genetic differences between common clinical sub-phenotypes of BD, we performed a systematic PRS analysis using multiple polygenic risk scores (PRSs) from a range of psychiatric, personality, and lifestyle traits to dissect differences in BD sub-phenotypes in two BD cohorts: the Mayo Clinic BD Biobank (N = 968) and Genetic Association Information Network (N = 1001). Participants were assessed for history of psychosis, early-onset BD, rapid cycling (defined as four or more episodes in a year), and suicide attempts using questionnaires and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. In a combined sample of 1969 bipolar cases (45.5% male), those with psychosis had higher PRS for SCZ (OR = 1.3 per S.D.; p = 3e-5) but lower PRSs for anhedonia (OR = 0.87; p = 0.003) and BMI (OR = 0.87; p = 0.003). Rapid cycling cases had higher PRS for ADHD (OR = 1.23; p = 7e-5) and MDD (OR = 1.23; p = 4e-5) and lower BD PRS (OR = 0.8; p = 0.004). Cases with a suicide attempt had higher PRS for MDD (OR = 1.26; p = 1e-6) and anhedonia (OR = 1.22; p = 2e-5) as well as lower PRS for educational attainment (OR = 0.87; p = 0.003). The observed novel PRS associations with sub-phenotypes align with clinical observations such as rapid cycling BD patients having a greater lifetime prevalence of ADHD. Our findings confirm that genetic heterogeneity underlies the clinical heterogeneity of BD and consideration of genetic contribution to psychopathologic components of psychiatric disorders may improve genetic prediction of complex psychiatric disorders.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S28-S28
Author(s):  
B. Etain

Childhood trauma is highly prevalent in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and has been associated to a more severe/complex expression of the disorder. Little is known about the familial and individual factors that can mediate the occurrence of trauma within families but also influence the outcomes of BD. We will present data from two independent samples of patients with BD in order to identify the potential mediators for occurrence and severity/complexity. In a first sample of 371 patients with BD, 256 relatives and 157 healthy controls, we will show that there is a familial resemblance for emotional and physical abuses. Patients’ level of physical abuse was associated with their parental levels of physical abuse, but also with their father's history of alcohol misuse (p < 0.05). Second, in a sub-sample of 270 normothymic patients, we have performed a path-analysis to demonstrate that emotional and physical abuses interacted with cannabis misuse to increase the frequency of psychotic features and delusional beliefs. Finally, in an independent sample of 485 euthymic patients from the FACE-BD cohort we used path-analytic models to show that emotional abuse increased all the assessed affective/impulsive dimensions (p < 0.001). In turn, affect intensity and attitudinal hostility were associated with high risk for suicide attempts (p < 0.001), whereas impulsivity was associated with a higher risk for presence of substance misuse (p < 0.001). These results illustrate that childhood trauma might derive from parental characteristics (own childhood trauma and psychopathology) and increase the severity/complexity of BD through individual dimensions of psychopathology.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.


1998 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Buist

Objective: While the potential negative effects on children of maternal depression has been documented, the influence of a maternal history of childhood abuse on child development is unclear. This study, the first stage of a 3–year follow-up study, looks at childhood abuse in women with depression in the postpartum period. Method: Fifty-six women admitted with postpartum depressive disorders were assessed with respect to their wellbeing, relationships and infant interaction. Twenty-eight women had a history of sexual abuse before the age of 16, nine physical/ emotional abuse and 19 had no history of abuse. Results: The mother-infant relationship was seen to be impaired in the sexually abused group (p = 0.007). The significance increased when all abused women were compared to controls (p = 0.001). In addition, abuse was associated with more severe depression on the Beck Depression Inventory (p = 0.046), and a trend to higher anxiety and longer lengths of stay (p = 0.05 for physical abuse). Partners rated themselves as being more skilled and confident parents. Conclusions: The effect of childhood abuse was indistinguishable between emotional and physical abuse in postpartum depressed women. The most significant effect was a deleterious one on the mother-infant relationship in those women with a history of abuse.


2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franco Benazzi

AbstractBackgroundDSM-IV definition of hypomania of bipolar-II disorder (BP-II), which includes elevated/irritable mood change as core feature (i.e., it must always be present), is not based on sound evidence.Study aimFollowing classic descriptions of hypomania, was to test if hypomania could be diagnosed on the basis of its number (9) of DSM-IV symptoms, setting no-priority symptom.MethodsConsecutive 422 depression-remitted outpatients were re-interviewed by a mood specialist psychiatrist using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders-Clinician Version [a semi-structured interview modified by Benazzi and Akiskal (J Affect Disord, 2003; J Clin Psychiatry, 2005) to improve the probing for BP-II] in a private practice. History of episodes of subthreshold (i.e., 2 or more symptoms) and threshold (i.e., meeting DSM-IV criteria of elevated mood plus at least 3 symptoms, or irritable mood plus at least 4) hypomania, lasting at least 2 days, and which were the most common symptoms during the episodes, were systematically assessed.ResultsBipolar-II disorder (BP-II) patients (according to DSM-IV criteria, apart from hypomania duration) were 260, and major depressive disorder (MDD) patients were 162. Mood change was present in all BP-II by definition. The most common symptoms were overactivity, which was present in almost all BP-II, followed by elevated mood and racing thoughts. ROC analysis of the number of hypomanic symptoms predicting BP-II found that a cut point of 5 or more symptoms over 9 had the best combination of sensitivity (90%) and specificity (84%), and the highest figure of correctly classified (87%) BP-II. History of episodes of 5 or more hypomanic symptoms was met by almost all BP-II.LimitationsSingle interviewer.ConclusionsFollowing classic descriptions of hypomania, not setting any priority among the three basic domains of hypomania (mood, thinking, behavior), results suggest that a cutoff number of 5 symptoms over 9 (of those listed by DSM-IV) could be used to diagnose hypomania of BP-II. Diagnosing hypomania by counting a checklist of symptoms should make it easier to diagnose BP-II, and should reduce the current high misdiagnosis of BP-II as MDD, significantly impacting the treatment of depression.


2014 ◽  
Vol 205 (6) ◽  
pp. 465-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liz Forty ◽  
Anna Ulanova ◽  
Lisa Jones ◽  
Ian Jones ◽  
Katherine Gordon-Smith ◽  
...  

BackgroundIndividuals with a mental health disorder appear to be at increased risk of medical illness.AimsTo examine rates of medical illnesses in patients with bipolar disorder (n = 1720) and to examine the clinical course of the bipolar illness according to lifetime medical illness burden.MethodParticipants recruited within the UK were asked about the lifetime occurrence of 20 medical illnesses, interviewed using the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) and diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria.ResultsWe found significantly increased rates of several medical illnesses in our bipolar sample. A high medical illness burden was associated with a history of anxiety disorder, rapid cycling mood episodes, suicide attempts and mood episodes with a typically acute onset.ConclusionsBipolar disorder is associated with high rates of medical illness. This comorbidity needs to be taken into account by services in order to improve outcomes for patients with bipolar disorder and also in research investigating the aetiology of affective disorder where shared biological pathways may play a role.Declarations of interestNone.


1998 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Wiederman ◽  
Randy A. Sansone ◽  
Lori A. Sansone

The results of past research have demonstrated apparent links between suicidality and a history of sexual abuse or physical abuse. However, the relative predictive power of such abuse histories in explaining suicidality remains unknown, as does the potential relationship between suicidality and emotional abuse, physical neglect, and witnessing violence. In the current study, 151 women who presented for nonemergent medical care indicated whether they had experienced each of five types of abuse and whether they had ever attempted suicide. Similar to past research, increased rates of having attempted suicide were evident among women who had been sexually or physically abused. Rates of past suicide attempts were also higher among those who had experienced emotional abuse or had witnessed violence. However, many women indicated having experienced multiple forms of trauma. In a multivariate analysis, only sexual abuse and physical abuse were uniquely predictive of having attempted suicide. Results are discussed with regard to the potential importance of bodily intrusiveness during abuse as most predictive of subsequent suicidality.


CNS Spectrums ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 737-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda M. Bierer ◽  
Rachel Yehuda ◽  
James Schmeidler ◽  
Vivian Mitropoulou ◽  
Antonia S. New ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTBackground:Childhood history of abuse and neglect has been associated with personality disorders and has been observed in subjects with lifetime histories of suicidality and self-injury. Most of these findings have been generated from inpatient clinical samples.Methods:This study evaluated self-rated indices of sustained childhood abuse and neglect in an outpatient sample of well-characterized personality disorder subjects (n=182) to determine the relative associations of childhood trauma indices to specific personality disorder diagnoses or clusters and to lifetime history of suicide attempts or gestures. Subjects met criteria for ~2.5 Axis II diagnoses and 24% reported past suicide attempts. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire was administered to assess five dimensions of childhood trauma exposure (emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and emotional and physical neglect). Logistic regression was employed to evaluate salient predictors among the trauma measures for each cluster, personality disorder, and history of attempted suicide and self-harm. All analyses controlled for gender distribution.Results:Seventy-eight percent of subjects met dichotomous criteria for some form of childhood trauma; a majority reported emotional abuse and neglect. The dichotomized criterion for global trauma severity was predictive of cluster B, borderline, and antisocial personality disorder diagnoses. Trauma scores were positively associated with cluster A, negatively with cluster C, but were not significantly associated with cluster B diagnoses. Among the specific diagnoses comprising cluster A, paranoid disorder alone was predicted by sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. Within cluster B, only antisocial personality disorder showed significant associations with trauma scores, with specific prediction by sexual and physical abuse. For borderline personality disorder, there were gender interactions for individual predictors, with emotional abuse being the only significant trauma predictor, and only in men. History of suicide gestures was associated with emotional abuse in the entire sample and in women only; self-mutilatory behavior was associated with emotional abuse in men.Conclusion:These results suggest that childhood emotional abuse and neglect are broadly represented among personality disorders, and associated with indices of clinical severity among patients with borderline personality disorder. Childhood sexual and physical abuse are highlighted as predictors of both paranoid and antisocial personality disorders. These results help qualify prior observations of the association of childhood sexual abuse with borderline personality disorder.


2018 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 31-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delfina Janiri ◽  
Pietro De Rossi ◽  
Georgios D. Kotzalidis ◽  
Paolo Girardi ◽  
Alexia Emilia Koukopoulos ◽  
...  

AbstractBackground:Depression is an important risk factor for suicide. However, other dimensions may contribute to the suicidal risk and to the transition from ideas to acts. We aimed to test the relative involvement of hopelessness, temperament, childhood trauma, and aggression in suicide risk in a large sample of patients with mood disorders.Methods:We assessed 306 patients with major depressive and bipolar disorders for clinical characteristics including hopelessness, temperament, childhood trauma, and aggression. We tested their associations with suicidal ideation and acts using standard univariate/bivariate methods, followed by multivariate logistic regression models.Results:In multivariate analyses, the loss of expectations subscore of the hopelessness scale was associated with lifetime suicidal ideation but not suicide attempt. Childhood emotional abuse, severity of current depression, and female gender were associated with lifetime suicide attempts, whereas hyperthymic temperament was protective. Only hyperthymic temperament differentiated patients with a history of suicidal ideas vs. those with a history of suicide attempt.Conclusions:Findings support the association of hopelessness with suicidal ideation and point to considering in suicidal acts not only depression, but also childhood emotional abuse, hyperthymic temperament, and gender.


2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabiano A. Gomes ◽  
Márcia Kauer-Sant’Anna ◽  
Pedro V. Magalhães ◽  
Felice N. Jacka ◽  
Seetal Dodd ◽  
...  

Gomes FA, Kauer-Sant’Anna M, Magalhães PV, Jacka FN, Dodd S, Gama CS, Cunha Â, Berk M, Kapczinski F. Obesity is associated with previous suicide attempts in bipolar disorder.Objective:There is a paucity of data about risk factors for suicide attempts in bipolar disorder. The aim of this study is to examine the association between suicide attempts and obesity in people with bipolar disorder.Methods:Two hundred fifty-five DSM-IV out-patients with bipolar disorder were consecutively recruited from the Bipolar Disorder Program at Hospital das Clínicas de Porto Alegre and the University Hospital at the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Brazil. Diagnosis and clinical variables were assessed with Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-axis I (SCID I) and Program structured protocol. History of suicide attempts was obtained from multiple information sources including patients, relatives and review of medical records. Patients with body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 were classified as obese.Results:Over 30% of the sample was obese and over 50% had a history of suicide attempt. In the multivariate model, obese patients were nearly twice (OR = 1.97, 95% CI: 1.06–3.69, p = 0.03) as likely to have a history of suicide attempt(s).Conclusion:Our results emphasise the relevance of obesity as an associated factor of suicide attempts in bipolar disorder. Obesity may be seen as correlate of severity and as such, must be considered in the comprehensive management of bipolar patients.


2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 300-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriane R. Rosa ◽  
Carolina Franco ◽  
Anabel Martínez-Aran ◽  
Jose Sánchez-Moreno ◽  
Manel Salamero ◽  
...  

Objective:The aim of the present study was to assess the association between previous suicide attempts and functional impairment among euthymic patients with bipolar disorder (BD).Methods:Seventy-one Diagnostic Statistical Manual IV (DSM-IV) patients with BD and 61 healthy volunteers were recruited from the Bipolar Disorder Program at the Clinic Hospital of Barcelona. Patients with (n = 36, 50.7%) and without (n = 35, 49.3%) previous suicide attempts were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR (SCID-P). Previous suicide attempts were carefully investigated by means of patient and caregiver interview and by a standard structured interview from the protocol of our BD Program. The Functioning Assessment Short Test (FAST) was employed to assess functional impairment.Results:Euthymic patients with previous suicide attempts showed functional impairment, particularly in occupational (F = 30.39; p = 0.001) and cognitive functioning (F = 18.43; p = 0.001). In addition, family history of psychiatric illness (χ2: 6.49; degrees of freedom (df) = 2;132; p = 0.010), family history of affective disorders (χ2 = 5.57; p = 0.017), psychotic symptoms (χ2 = 5.88; p = 0.014) and axis II comorbidity were associated with previous suicide attempts (χ2 = 5.16; p = 0.021).Conclusion:Bipolar patients with previous suicide attempts had lower overall functioning than patients who did not attempt suicide. Previous suicide attempts were particularly associated with the occupational and cognitive domains of functioning.


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