The Relationship Between Subtype, Predominant Polarity, and Response to Positive Affect in a Bipolar Population

Abstract

Background: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a recurrent and severe psychiatric illness, which is associated with substantial risks of morbidity and mortality. Ineffective emotion regulation strategies can influence the onset and maintenance of BD and can be targeted by psychological interventions. Up to now, research has primarily focused on the regulation of negative affect (NA), but less is known about the regulation of positive affect (PA). Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between BD subtype, predominant polarity, and response to PA in order to increase knowledge on PA regulation. Methods: The sample consisted of 77 adult patients (age: M = 38.92 years; SD = 13.15) with a diagnosis of either BD-I or BD-II who were at the beginning of an outpatient treatment. Participants completed the Questionnaire for Bipolar Illness to measure predominant polarity and Responses to Positive Affect Questionnaire to measure responses to PA. Results: Manic polarity was associated with lower dampening scores than depressive and no polarity. Depressive polarity reduced the negative relationship between BD-II and positive rumination. No other significant results were found. Conclusion: This research showed a negative association between predominant polarity and response to PA. This implies that predominant polarity may be an explanatory factor for the emotion regulation strategies used within BD and thus may have an effect on the course of this illness. Further research is needed to confirm and reinforce this finding, before more targeted psychological interventions can be implemented.