[Temperament and character personality dimensions in patients with bipolar I disorder].

Objectives: To compare Cloninger's dimensions of temperament and character in patients with bipolar I disorder (BP-I) and healthy controls from the general population.

Materials And Methods: This cross sectional study included 96 BP-I patients (according to DSM-IV-TR criteria) that were admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Iran due to an acute episode of mania or depression, or a mixed episode during 2011. Following stabilization of the acute phase, the patients completed the 125-item Temperament and Character Inventory-Persian Version of (TCI-125-PV). The scale's 7 dimensions of temperament and character were compared between the bipolar group and 1212 healthy controls via independent samples t-test. Moreover, the correlation between temperament and character scores, and age, duration of disorder, and mood variables (depression and mania scores) were assessed using Pearson's correlation coefficient.

Results: The bipolar patients had significantly higher harm avoidance (P= 0.001), and lower reward dependency (P= 0.001), persistence (P =0.044), cooperativeness (P= 0.001), self-directedness (P= 0.001), and self-transcendence (P= 0.004) scores than the controls. Female patients had lower reward dependency (P= 0.001), self-directedness (P= 0.001), and cooperativeness (P= 0.001) scores than male patients. In addition, TCI-125- PV scores were not strongly correlated with depression or mania scores, duration of disorder, or marital status.

Conclusion: The personality profiles of the BP-I patients differed from those of the controls. Lower self-directedness and cooperativeness scores in the bipolar group appeared to be associated with more immature personality traits.