Citation

Carpiniello B, Lai L, Pirarba S, Sardu C, Pinna F. Psychiatry Res. 2011; 188(1): 40-44.

Affiliation

Department of Public Health, Section of Psychiatry and Psychiatric Clinic, University of Cagliari, Italy.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.psychres.2010.10.026

PMID

21131058

Abstract

Few studies to date have been performed to investigate impulsivity and aggressivity in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD); the primary aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of co-morbidity of BPD on impulsivity and aggressivity in patients affected by BD. A total of 57 patients (male=20, female=37) affected by BD (BD-I 51%; BD-II 49%) in clinical stable remission were recruited; 28 patients were affected by BD (49.1%), 18 by BD and BPD (31.6%) and 11 (19.3%) by BD plus Other Personality Disorders (OPD) (19.3%). They were submitted to Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID)-I and SCID-II, and were evaluated by means of the Clinical Global Impression (CGI)-severity and Global Assessment Functioning (GAF) scales, the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11) and the Aggression Questionnaire (AQ). Mean total scores were significantly higher among BD/BPD patients with respect to BD and to BD/OPD, both at BIS-11 and AQ; rate of attempted suicides was approximately 3 times higher in BD/BPD with respect to BD and 7.6 times higher than in BD/OPD patients. The results of our study suggest that patients with co-morbid BD and BPD are more impulsive and aggressive. Furthermore, this co-morbid condition may be a risk factor for suicidality.

Language: en