Objectives:It has been known that in bipolar I disorder, there are some clinical and neurobiological differences between patients with or without a history of psychotic symptoms. This study aimed to investigate the differences of affective temperaments measured by the Temperament Evaluation of the Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A) between bipolar I disorder patients with and without psychotic symptoms.
Methods: 52 bipolar patients with bipolar I disorder and 32 normal controls were enrolled in this study. Except for irritable temperaments which was tested by Kruskal-Wallis test, one-way ANOVA were used to compare each subscale of TEMPS-A among psychotic bipolar patients (N=23), nonpsychotic bipolar patients (N=29), and normal controls. Then post-hoc analyses were done.
Results:When compared among the 3 groups, cyclothymic temperament scores were significantly higher in nonpsychotic patients than normal controls. And irritable temperament scores in nonpsychotic patient group were significantly higher than the other groups. There were no significant differences in depressive, hyperthymic, and anxious temperament scores among the 3 groups.
Conclusion:We found that bipolar I disorder patients without psychotic symptoms have some different affective temperaments compared with psychotic bipolar patients and normal controls. These results suggest that even a same diagnostic group, bipolar I disorder, may have differences in their temperaments across the subgroups.