Do social anxiety disorder patients belong to a bipolar spectrum subgroup?
BACKGROUND
It has been proposed that all forms of bipolar disorder-perhaps all primary affective disorders-are best conceptualized as a spectrum of related illness, clinically overlapping but not necessarily genetically uniform illnesses. We aim to describe with retrospective methodology the demographic, clinical, and therapeutic response in a group of social anxiety disorder (SA) patients who improves while taking antidepressants and compare them with bipolar II (B-II) patients.


METHODS
57 SA outpatients (DSM-IV) were diagnosed and naturalistic efficacious treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). Their demographic, clinical features and therapeutic response were compared with 41 DSM-IV bipolar II patients in their starting evaluations in our outpatient clinic in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.


RESULTS
There is a sub-group of SA patients who improves while taking antidepressants and presents a clear hypomanic phase. Their improvement is identical to a mild/moderate hypomanic state. Without the antidepressant, the symptoms of SA return. The SA and B-II patients have a similar number of previous depressive episodes, alcohol abuse, suicide attempts, and family history for mood disorder.


CONCLUSIONS
It is a retrospective data description based on a naturalist follow-up.


CONCLUSIONS
Some SA patients have demographic, clinical and therapeutic features similar to B-II patients and they might just be a Bipolar-III sub-group with a higher level of complains to social situations and without spontaneous hypomania during lifetime.
Valença
Alexandre M
AM
Institute of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, R. Visconde de Pirajá, 407/702, Rio de Janeiro-RJ-22410-003, Brazil.
Nardi
Antonio E
AE
Nascimento
Isabella
I
Lopes
Fabiana L
FL
Freire
Rafael C
RC
Mezzasalma
Marco A
MA
Veras
André B
AB
Versiani
Marcio
M
D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000145:classification / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D003710:Demography; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology*; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013406:Suicide, Attempted; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000928:Antidepressive Agents