The prevalence and clinical correlates of anger attacks during depressive episodes in bipolar disorder.
BACKGROUND
Anger attacks, characterized by sudden episodes of intense anger with autonomic arousal, have been described in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). This study compared the prevalence and clinical significance of anger attacks in unipolar versus bipolar depression.


METHODS
Using the questionnaire of Fava et al. [Psychopharmacol. Bull. 27(3) (1991) 275-279], we assessed rates of anger attacks among outpatients with MDD (n=50) or bipolar disorder (BPD) (n=29) who were currently in a pure depressive episode.


RESULTS
Anger attacks were significantly more common among bipolar (62%) than unipolar (26%) depressed individuals. In a multiple logistic regression, the presence of anger attacks emerged as a significant predictor of bipolarity.


CONCLUSIONS
This preliminary finding should be confirmed in a larger sample.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that anger attacks may be a common feature of bipolar depression.
Perlis
Roy H
RH
Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Psychiatry, Boston, MA, USA. rperlis@partners.org
Smoller
Jordan W
JW
Fava
Maurizio
M
Rosenbaum
Jerrold F
JF
Nierenberg
Andrew A
AA
Sachs
Gary S
GS
D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D015995:Prevalence