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Recurrent Affective Syndromes in Bipolar and Unipolar Mood Disorders at Follow-Up

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Joseph F. Goldberg ,
Martin Harrow  and
Linda S. Grossman
Joseph F. Goldberg
Affiliation:
Payne Whitney Clinic, New York Hospital–Cornell University Medical Center, 525 E. 68th Street, New York, NY 10021
Martin Harrow*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
Linda S. Grossman
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
*
Professor Harrow, Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois College of Medicine, 912 S. Wood Street (m/c 913), Chicago, IL 60612, USA
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Abstract

Background

It is in dispute whether affective relapse disrupts psychosocial functioning to the same extent in depressed and manic patients.

Method

A prospective, naturalistic, longitudinal follow-up of 84 unipolar and bipolar affectively disordered in-patients was conducted to examine the extent of recurrent affective syndromes and their relationship to overall outcome. Global adjustment relative to relapse was assessed at 2- and 4.5-year follow-ups.

Results

Nearly half of the bipolar patients had subsequent syndromes, which were often associated with uniformly poor psychosocial functioning. Fewer than one-quarter of those with recurrences had steady work performance. Bipolar patients taking lithium alone had fewer recurrences than those taking lithium as well as neuroleptics (P<0.05). Bipolar and unipolar patients relapsed with equal frequency, but unipolar relapse was less often associated with readmission to hospital, work impairment, or uniformly poor functioning.

Conclusion

Affective relapse in bipolar disorders was more detrimental to overall functioning than was recurrence in unipolar depression.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 166 , Issue 3 , March 1995 , pp. 382 - 385
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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