Frequency and relationship between psychopathology, trauma, dissociation in the offspring of bipolar disorder type I

SUMMARY Objective: Offspring of Bipolar parents constitute a high-risk group for both bipolar disorder and other psychopathologies. One of the environmental risk factors defined for the emergence of pathology is childhood trauma. The relationship between trauma and dissociation has also been described in the literature, and dissociation in children of people with bipolar disorder has not been studied before. The aim of the study is to compare psychopathology, trauma and dissociation in this high-risk group with the control group. Patients and methods: Children aged 11-17 years of parents diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder type I, followed by Istanbul Medical Faculty, Department of Psychiatry, and children aged 11-17 years of relatives of Istanbul Medical Faculty staff who do not have mood disorders were included in the study. Psychiatric evaluation was conducted with the Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia Interview Schedule for School-Age Children-Now and Lifetime Version DSM 5 version (K-SADS-PL-DSM-5-T). Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Adolescent Dissociative Experiences Scale (ADES), Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) were given to both groups. Results: 62 children were included in the study(31 case and 31 control). 33 (53.2%) of the participants were male and 29 (46.8%) were female. While the mean age of the girls was 15.48 ± 1.55, the mean age of the boys was 14.45 ± 1.94. Subthreshold bipolar disorder, mood disorder, anxiety disorder (p<0.05) and lifelong psychopathology (p=0.001) were found to be significantly higher in the case group. CTQ total score, physical neglect and emotional abuse scores were found to be significantly higher in the case group. (p<0.05). No significant difference was found between ADES scale total and sub-scores. Conclusions : In our study, mood disorder and other psychopathology rates were found to be high in the case group same as with the literature. High trauma scores may identify children in the risk group who will have earlier onset of the disease and poor prognosis. The fact that dissociation rates are the same as in the population sample can determine that mood changes in bipolar disorder are more biologically based than other trauma-related pathologies, and it can be considered to be useful in differential diagnosis. Long-term follow-up of the risk group is necessary and important both in terms of community mental health and in understanding the course of bipolar disorder.