The study of impulsivity in bipolar mania

Pages: 243-247
Mohit Kumar (Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi)
Basudeb Das (Department of Psychiatry, Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi, Jharkhand)
Sanjay Kumar (Department of Clinical Psychology, Institute of Mental Health, Govt. Mental Hospital, Amritsar, Punjab)
Masood Maqbool (Division of Trauma Surgery & Critical Care, JPNATC, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi)
Satyam Sharma (Department of Clinical Psychology, PGIMER- Dr. Ram Manohar, Lohia Hospital, New Delhi)

It is largely accepted that impulsivity is part of bipolar disorder. However, presence of various sub-facets of impulsivity in bipolar disorder remains largely unknown. The present study aims to see various sub-components of impulsivity in patients diagnosed with BPAD current episode manic type. Purposive sampling was used to select 20 patients with diagnosis of BPAD current episode manic type (based on ICD- 10 DCR) (group 1) from a tertiary care hospital. Another 20 normal healthy subjects (group 2) were taken from accompanying person on the score of less than 3 in GHQ-12. Both the groups were matched on age, sex and education level obtained through initial assessment on socio-demographic clinical data sheet. All the subjects (n=40) were assessed using Barratt Impulsivity Scale and Stocking of Cambridge test, (a sub test of CANTAB). There was a statistically significant difference between group 1 and group 2 on measures of BIS. On SOC, significant differences were obtained on sub-components of Mean Subsequent Thinking Time and Problems Solved in Minimum Moves. The findings of this study suggest that impulsivity more present in patients with BPAD than normal subjects.