Anger and cluster B personality traits and the conversion from unipolar depression to bipolar disorder

Introduction Feelings of anger and irritability are prominent symptoms of bipolar disorder (BD) that may occur during hypomanic, depressive and, especially, during mixed mood states. We aimed to determine whether such constructs are associated with the conversion to BD in subjects with a history of unipolar depression. Methods Data were derived from the depressed participants of Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety with 9 years of follow-up. Hypomania was ascertained using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview at 2, 4, 6, and 9 years follow-up. Cross-sectionally, we studied the association between prevalent hypomania and anger related constructs with the Spielberger Trait Anger subscale, the Anger Attacks questionnaire, the cluster B personality traits part of the Personality Disorder Questionnaire, and aggression reactivity. Prospectively, we studied whether aggression reactivity predicted incident hypomania using Cox regression analyses. Results Cross-sectionally, the bipolar conversion group (n = 77) had significantly higher scores of trait anger and aggression reactivity, as well as a higher prevalence on anger attacks, antisocial traits, and borderline traits compared to current (n = 349) as well as remitted (n = 1159) depressive patients. In prospective analyses in 1744 participants, aggression reactivity predicted incident hypomania (n = 28), with a multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio of 1.4 (95% confidence interval: 1.02-1.93; p = .037). Conclusion Anger is a risk factor for conversion from unipolar depression to BD. In addition, patients who converted to BD showed on average anger, agitation and irritability than people with a history of unipolar depression who had not converted.

Automated summary

Feelings of anger and irritability are prominent symptoms of bipolar disorder (BD), and individuals with a history of unipolar depression who convert to BD tend to exhibit higher levels of trait anger, aggression reactivity, and anger-related constructs compared to those who do not convert.