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Title

Decreasing the minimum length criterion for an episode of hypomania: evaluation using self-reported data from patients with bipolar disorder

Author(s)

Bauer, Michael;  Glenn, Tasha;  Rasgon, Natalie;  Marsh, Wendy;  Sagduyu, Kemal;  Grof, Paul;  Alda, Martin;  Murray, Greg;  Munoz, Rodrigo;  Quiroz, Danilo;  Bauer, Rita;  Jabs, Burkhard;  Whybrow, Peter C.

Abstract

Brief hypomania lasting less than 4 days may impair functioning and help to detect bipolarity. This study analyzed brief hypomania that occurred in patients with bipolar disorder who were diagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria. Daily self-reported mood ratings were obtained from 393 patients (247 bipolar I and 146 bipolar II) for 6 months (75,284 days of data, mean 191.6 days). Episodes of hypomania were calculated using a 4, 3, 2, and single day length criterion. Brief hypomania occurred frequently. With a decrease in the minimum criterion from 4 days to 2 days, there were almost twice as many patients with an episode of hypomania (102 vs. 190), and more than twice as many episodes (305 vs. 863). Single days of hypomania were experienced by 271 (69%) of the sample. With a 2-day episode length, 33% of all hypomania remained outside of an episode. There was no significant difference in the percent of hypomanic days outside of an episode between patients with bipolar I and II disorders. There were no significant differences in the demographic characteristics of patients who met the 4-day minimum as compared with those who only experienced episodes of hypomania using a shortened length criterion. Decreasing the minimum length criterion for an episode of hypomania will cause a large increase in the number of patients who experience an episode and in the aggregate number of episodes, but will not distinguish subgroups within a sample who meet the DSM-IV criteria for bipolar disorder. Frequency may be an important dimensional aspect of brief hypomania. Clinicians should regularly probe for brief hypomania.

Publication type

Journal article

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Life and Social Sciences

Source

European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, Vol. 261, no. 5 (2011), pp. 341-347

Publication year

2011

FOR Code(s)

1103 Clinical Sciences;  1109 Neurosciences;  1702 Cognitive Sciences

Keyword(s)

Bipolar disorder;  DSM-IV criteria;  Episode length;  Hypomania

Publisher

Springer

ISSN

0940-1334

Publisher URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00406-010-0187-x

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s) 2011. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. The published version of the paper is reproduced here in accordance with this policy.

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