Citation

Goldberg JF, Ernst CL. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 2004; 192(3): 187-192.

Affiliation

Zucker Hillside Hospital, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, NY, and Department of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University and Bipolar Disorders Research Clinic, New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15091299

Abstract

Impaired psychosocial functioning has been well documented in bipolar disorder, although there is little information linking premorbid adjustment with adult functional outcome. Childhood and adolescent functioning in school, peer relations, and personal interests was evaluated by standardized interviews with 56 adult-onset DSM-IV bipolar I (N = 46), II (N = 7), or not otherwise specified (N = 3) patients, with collaboration by collateral historians, and assessed relative to current work functioning and overall illness features. Poor childhood or adolescent adjustment was associated with subsequent alcohol or drug abuse or dependence (p <.05), insidious onset of bipolar disorder (p <.02), and increased suicide attempts (p <.02). Poor adjustment in childhood was related to the lifetime development of rapid cycling. Poor premorbid adjustment may be linked with the potential to develop substance abuse comorbidity and an increased risk for suicide attempts and rapid cycling in bipolar patients. The prognostic significance of maladaptive childhood or adolescent behaviors may bear directly on clinical components of outcome in bipolar disorder.

Language: en