Citation

Russo M, Proujansky R, Gilbert A, Braga RJ, Burdick KE. Eur. Psychiatry 2014; 29(1): 52-57.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 1, Gustave-L-Levy-Place, Box 1230, 10029 New York, USA. Electronic address: manuela.russo@mssm.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2013.06.005

PMID

23928266

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study investigates the effect of sex and childhood trauma on affective processing in bipolar disorder (BPD) patients. METHODS: In a sample of fifty-six BPD patients, we administered the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Affective Go/No-Go (AGNG) to measure affective processing. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to evaluate the effect of sex and childhood trauma on IGT; Repeated-Measures ANOVAs to measure accuracy and bias measures across conditions on the AGNG. RESULTS: In the context of childhood abuse, females evidenced a more conservative cognitive style than males by selecting fewer cards from the disadvantageous decks [F(1, 49)=14.218; P<0.001] and showed an improvement throughout the task, as noted in a normal learning curve [F(1.49)=4.385; P=0.041)]. For the AGNG, an interaction specific to the negative valence stimuli on response bias measures was found. Abused females scored higher (mean=8.38; SD=6.39) than abused males (mean=0.69; SD=1.19) [F(1.46)=6.348; P=0.015]. CONCLUSION: Severity of childhood trauma was significantly different between sexes. In the context of a history of emotional abuse, male bipolar patients tended toward a more risk-taking behavior compared to female. Further investigations are needed to elucidate potential pathophysiological mechanisms underlying this interaction.

Language: en