Temperament and character traits in patients with bipolar disorder and associations with attempted suicide.
OBJECTIVE
This study was intended to investigate temperament and character traits in bipolar disorder patients with or without a history of attempted suicide.


METHODS
One hundred nineteen patients diagnosed with euthymic bipolar disorder based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision, and with no accompanying Axis I and II comorbidity, and 103 healthy controls were included. Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Axis I and II disorders were used to exclude Axis I and II comorbidity. Temperament and character traits of bipolar patients with a history attempted suicide (25.2%, n = 30) or without (74.8%, n = 89) and of the healthy volunteers were determined using the Temperament and Character Inventory. The association between current suicide ideation and temperament and character traits was also examined.


RESULTS
Bipolar patients with or without a history of attempted suicide had higher harm avoidance (HA) scores compared with the healthy controls. Persistence scores of bipolar patients with no history of attempted suicide were lower than those of the healthy controls. Self-directedness (SD) scores of the bipolar patients with a history of attempted suicide were lower than those of patients with no such history. Self-transcendence scores of bipolar patients with no history of attempted suicide were lower than those of both the healthy controls and of those patients with a history of attempted suicide. A positive correlation was determined between current suicidal ideation scale scores and HA, and a negative correlation between SD and cooperativeness was determined.


CONCLUSIONS
High harm avoidance may be a temperament trait specific to bipolar disorder patients. However, it may not be correlated with attempted suicide in such patients. These may have low persistence, high SD and low self-transcendence temperament and character traits that protect against attempted suicide. Harm avoidance, SD, and cooperativeness may be correlated with current suicidal ideation.
Psychiatry Department, Ondokuz Mayis University School of Medicine, Tıp Fakültesi Psikiyatri Anabilim Dalı, Samsun, Turkey. gokhansarisoy@gmail.com
Gökhan
G
Sarısoy
Omer Faruk
OF
Kaçar
Ozan
O
Pazvantoğlu
Arif
A
Oztürk
Işıl Zabun
IZ
Korkmaz
Birsen
B
Kocamanoğlu
Omer
O
Böke
Ahmet Rifat
AR
Sahin
D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D002605:Character; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012016:Reference Values; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D059020:Suicidal Ideation; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013694:Temperament