Positive Affect Regulation and Bipolar Disorder: an explorative study in an outpatient sample

Abstract

Abstract: bipolar disorder is characterized by the changing of emotional states and the difficulty of treatment. There is preliminary evidence that individuals who have experienced depression use more dysfunctional strategies and less functional strategies to manage their emotions than individuals who have never been depressed. Investigating the role of affect regulation strategies in bipolar disorder can be helpful for enhancing knowledge about psychological mechanisms that should be targeted in treatment. This is the first study about positive affect regulation in an outpatient bipolar sample. Comparisons were made between bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder. Data was also compared for gender and diagnosis. Outpatient bipolar patients completed the Response to Positive Affect questionnaire and current mood was determined by their specialist according to the Clinical Global Impression for bipolar disorders. Patients with a major depressive disorder completed the Response to Positive Affect questionnaire and the Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology. Current study shows that positive affect regulation does not correlate with mood severity in bipolar disorder. In major depressive disorder there is a clear positive relation between dampening and depression severity and a negative relation between positive rumination and depression severity. No difference were found between bipolar women and men for positive affect regulation. For diagnosis, patients with bipolar II disorder use more dampening than individuals with bipolar I disorder. Further longitudinal research should examine the relation between mood and positive affect regulation over time.