The entitlement, social isolation, and defectiveness early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) were associated with increased suicide risk and ideation in patients with bipolar disorder, according to Vahid Khosravani of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, and his associates.
“These findings were in line with previous studies (J Nerv Ment Dis. 2016 Mar. 204[3]:236-9) showing higher scores of social isolation and entitlement in [bipolar disorder] patients with suicide attempts than those without such attempts,” Mr. Khosravani and his associates wrote in Psychiatry Research.
For the study, 100 inpatients with bipolar disorder completed the Young Schema Questionnaire–Short Form (YSQ-SF), the Bipolar Depression Rating Scale (BDRS), the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), and the Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation (BSSI). Of that group, 59% had attempted suicide and 59% had a BSSI score of 6 or higher, indicating high suicidal risk, reported Mr. Khosravani and his associates.
; they also had higher levels of depressive and hypomanic/manic symptoms. Current suicide ideation was associated with higher entitlement and defectiveness EMS scores, as well as with increased hypomanic/manic symptoms.
“The findings suggest that manic symptoms as well as specific EMSs including social isolation, entitlement, and defectiveness emerge as potentially implicated in suicidality in BD patients,” the investigators noted. “Therefore, providing social support in the economic, social, political, cultural, and educational spheres may be a factor in preventing suicide.”
Mr. Khosravani and his associates said their study received no funding from public, commercial, or nonprofit agencies. The investigators declared no conflicts of interest.
SOURCE: Khosravani V et al. Psychiatry Res. 2019 Jan. (271):351-9.