Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-17T04:52:26.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Sense of hyper-positive self, goal-attainment beliefs and coping strategies in bipolar I disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2009

R. Lee
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
D. Lam*
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
W. Mansell
Affiliation:
Psychology Department, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
A. Farmer
Affiliation:
MRC SGPD Unit, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
*
*Address for correspondence: D. Lam, Ph.D., Department of Clinical Psychology, Hull York Medical School, University of Hull, Hull HU6 7RX, UK. (Email: [email protected])

Abstract

Background

There is some evidence that cognitive therapy (CT) is beneficial in reducing relapses in bipolar disorder. However, not all bipolar patients benefit from it. A previous study found that a group of non-responders to CT shared common characteristics: they value some of the high goal-attainment beliefs and characteristics associated with being in a state of mild hypomania – a high ‘sense of hyper-positive self’ (SHPS). To promote of our understanding of this group of patients, the present study investigated the relationship between SHPS, preferred internal state, dysfunctional attitudes and coping with hypothetical manic prodromal scenarios.

Method

Fifty-four bipolar I patients filled in self-report questionnaires that assess preferred mood state, coping with scenarios, dysfunctional attitudes and SHPS.

Results

The Sense of Hyper-positive Self Scale Ideal score (SHPSS-Ideal) predicted patients' preferred internal state of mania. Coping with hypothetical scenarios was predicted by Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS) goal-attainment scores: the higher the goal-attainment score, the higher the participant's tendency to identify with self-descriptors linked to hypomania and to engage in stimulating behaviours that may escalate the prodromal stage to mania.

Conclusions

Clinicians should check and modify goal-attainment beliefs, particularly of those who exhibit features of SHPS. These patients' tendency to identify with hypomanic traits as self-descriptors should be dealt with by psychological techniques such as cognitive restructuring.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altman, EG, Hedeker, DR, Janicak, PG, Peterson, JL, Davis, JM (1997). The Altman Self-Rating Mania Scale. Biological Psychiatry 42, 948955.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
APA (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edn. American Psychiatric Association: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Aschoff, J (1981). Freerunning and entrained circadian rhythms. In Handbook of Behavioral Neurobiology, vol 4, Biological Rhythms (ed. Aschoff, J.), pp. 8192 Plenum Press: New York.Google Scholar
Ball, JR, Mitchell, PB, Corry, JC, Skillecorn, A, Malhi, GS (2006). A randomized controlled trial of cognitive therapy for bipolar disorder: focus on long-term change. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 67, 277286.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bech, P (2002). The Bech-Rafaelsen Mania Scale in clinical trials of therapy for bipolar disorder: a 20-year review of its use as an outcome measure. CNS Drugs 16, 4763.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bech, P, Rafaelsen, OJ, Kramp, P, Bolwig, TG (1978). The mania rating scale: scale construction and inter-observer agreement. Neuropharmacology 17, 430431.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beck, AT, Steer, RA, Garbin, MG (1988). Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory: twenty-five years of evaluation. Clinical Psychology Review 8, 77–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, AT, Ward, CH, Mendelson, M, Mock, J, Erbaugh, J (1961). An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry 4, 561571.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Capozzoli, M, McSweeney, L, Sinha, D (1999). Beyond kappa: a review of interrater agreement measures. Canadian Journal of Statistics 27, 3–23.Google Scholar
Costa, PT, McCrae, RR (1992). NEO PI-R Professional Manual: Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). Psychological Assessment Resources: Odessa, FL.Google Scholar
Ehlers, CL, Frank, E, Kupfer, DJ (1988). Social zeitgebers and biological rhythms. A unified approach to understanding the etiology of depression. Archives of General Psychiatry 45, 948952.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
First, MB, Gibbon, M, Spitzer, RL, Williams, JBW (1996). User Guide for the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis 1 Disorders. American Psychiatric Association: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Johnson, S, Sandrow, D, Meyer, B, Winters, R, Miller, I, Solomon, D, Keitner, G (1999). Increases in manic symptoms after life events involving goal attainment. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 109, 721727.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, SL, Cueller, AK, Ruggero, C, Winett-Perlman, C, Goodnic, P, White, R, Miller, I (2008). Life events as predictors of mania and depression in bipolar I disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 117, 268277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lam, DH, Bright, J, Jones, SH, Hayward, P, Schuck, N, Chisholm, D, Sham, P (2000). Cognitive therapy for bipolar illness: a pilot study of relapse prevention. Cognitive Therapy and Research 24, 503520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lam, DH, Hayward, P, Watkins, ER, Wright, K, Sham, P (2005 a). Relapse prevention in patients with bipolar disorder: cognitive therapy outcome. American Journal of Psychiatry 162, 324329.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lam, DH, Jones, S, Hayward, P, Bright, J (1999). Cognitive Therapy for Bipolar Disorder: A Therapist's Guide to the Concept, Methods and Practice. John Wiley and Sons Ltd: Chichester.Google Scholar
Lam, DH, Watkins, ER, Hayward, P, Bright, J, Wright, K, Kerr, N, Parr-Davis, G, Sham, P (2003). A randomised controlled study of cognitive therapy of relapse prevention for bipolar affective disorders: outcome of the first year. Archives of General Psychiatry 60, 145152.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lam, DH, Wright, K, Smith, N (2004). Dysfunctional assumptions in bipolar disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders 79, 193199.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lam, DH, Wright, K, Sham, P (2005 b). Sense of hyper-positive self and response to cognitive therapy in bipolar disorder. Psychological Medicine 35, 6977.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lozano, BE, Johnson, SL (2001). Can personality traits predict increases in manic and depressive symptoms? Journal of Affective Disorders 63, 103111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mansell, W (2003). Mood and cognition in bipolar affective disorder (D.Clin.Psych. thesis). Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London.Google Scholar
Mansell, W, Morrison, AP, Reid, G, Lowens, I, Tai, S (2007). The interpretation of and responses to changes in internal states: an integrative cognitive model of mood swings and bipolar disorder. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy 35, 515539.Google Scholar
Menard, S (1995). Applied Logistic Regression Analysis. Sage University Paper Series on Quantitative Applications in the Social Service, 07-106. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA.Google Scholar
Myers, R (1990). Classical and Modern Regression with Applications, 2nd edn. Duxbury: Boston, MA.Google Scholar
Power, MJ, Katz, R, McGuffin, P, Duggan, CF, Lam, D, Beck, AT (1994). The Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS): a comparison of forms A and B and proposal for a new sub-scaled version. Journal of Research in Personality 28, 263276.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenfarb, IS, Becker, J, Khan, A, Mintz, J (1998). Dependency and self-criticism in bipolar and unipolar depressed women. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 37, 409414.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, J, Garland, A, Moorhead, S (2001). A pilot study of cognitive therapy in bipolar disorders. Psychological Medicine 31, 459467.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, J, Paykel, E, Morriss, R, Bentall, R, Kinderman, P, Johnson, T, Abbott, R (2006). Cognitive-behavioural therapy for severe and recurrent bipolar disorders. British Journal of Psychiatry 188, 313320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shen, GHC, Alloy, LB, Abramson, LY, Sylvia, LG (2008). Social rhythm regularity and the onset of affective episodes in bipolar spectrum individuals. Bipolar Disorders 10, 520529.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed