Conscience du trouble chez les sujets bipolaires euthymiques: étude transversale comparative réalisée sur 60 patients

Abstract: We were interested in awareness of illness in bipolar subjects during the inter-critical period. The study included 60 euthymic bipolar subjects of which 30 patients stabilized for several months and 30 seen at the end of a hospitalization period. We used the MDIS (Mood Disorder Insight Scale) to evaluate their insight; our patients were clinically euthymic, as checked by the Hamilton depression scale and the Young mania scale. Our results showed that bipolar patients stabilized for several months had a better insight score than patients in recent remission, most of the weakening of the insight score of the latter was due to a causal attribution of illness. Among those which had just relapsed, subjects who had recovered from a manic episode had the worse awareness. The probable persistence of infraclinical symptoms could explain the very close involvement and the deterioration of the insight scores. Finally, among factors studied only that of taking part in an association of patients showed a significant relation with a good insight score. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]