Behavioural addictions in bipolar disorder patients: Role of impulsivity and personality dimensions

Background: Behavioural addictions (BAs) can be understood as disorders characterized by\r\nrepetitive occurrence of impulsive and uncontrolled behaviours. Very few studies have\r\ninvestigated their association with mood disorders. The present study was undertaken to\r\ndetermine the prevalence of the main behavioural addictions in a sample of bipolar outpatients\r\nin euthymic phase or stabilised by medications and to investigate the role of impulsivity and\r\ntemperamental and character dimensions.\r\nMethods: One-hundred-fifty-eight Bipolar Disorder (BD) (DSM-IV) outpatients were assessed\r\nwith tests designed to screen the main behavioural addictions: pathological gambling (SOGS),\r\ncompulsive shopping (CBS), sexual (SAST), Internet (IAD), work (WART) and physical exercise\r\n(EAI) addictions. TCI-R and BIS-11 were administered to investigate impulsivity and\r\npersonality dimensions mainly associated with BAs. The clinical sample has been compared\r\nwith 200 matched healthy control subjects.\r\nResults: In bipolar patients, 33% presented at least one BA respect to the 13% of controls.\r\nSignificantly higher scores at the scales for pathological gambling (pb.001), compulsive buying\r\n(pb.05), sexual (pb.001) and work addictions (pb.05) have been found. Self-Directness\r\n(p=.007) and Cooperativeness (p=.014) scores were significantly lower while impulsivity\r\nlevel was significantly higher (p=.007) in bipolar patients with BA than those without BA.\r\nConclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the prevalence of\r\nbehavioural addictions in BD showing a significant association of these disorders. BAs are\r\nmore frequent in bipolar patients than in healthy controls and are related to higher impulsivity\r\nlevels and character immaturity.