Bipolar Disorder (BD) is a common psychiatric disease. It has been demonstrated a long time ago that bipolar patients are more painful than the healthy subjects. Substance use disorder is a frequent comorbidity in BD, but also in painful patients. The aim of our study was to analyze if bipolar patients with a painful expression have more substance use disorder than bipolar patients without pain.

The aim of our study was to analyze if bipolar patients with a painful expression have more substance use disorder than bipolar patients without pain

We included all bipolar patients from the FACE-BD cohort which is a prospective cohort of French outpatients with BD enrolled at the 12 advanced Centers of Expertise in Bipolar Disorder (CEBD). Pain has been evaluated by the “pain item” of the EQ-5D scale and we divided subjects in four categories: “no pain”, “slight pain”, “moderate pain”, “severe or extreme pain”. A multivariate analysis was performed to identify differences between each pain’s groups according to the kind of substance use disorder, psychiatric comorbidities and clinicals data.

The cohort enrolled 1897 bipolar patients, 970 had no pain (51.1%), 507 had slight pain (26.7%), 298 had moderate pain (15.7%) and 122 had severe or extreme pain (6.4%). We found significant differences according to age, comorbidities and clinicals data with older, more anxious, and more severe patients more represented in the more painful groups. Painful bipolar patients had also more frequently lifetime substance use disorders (alcohol, opioid, sedative, marijuana) and we were able to characterize different profiles in bipolar patients.

Bipolar patients with a painful expression had more risks to have a lifetime substance use disorder, an anxiety disorder, and a higher score on MADRS. Interestingly, subjects seemed to prefer substances with anxiolytic or antalgic effects during the acute intoxication as alcohol, marijuana, opioid and sedatives.

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Bipolar disorders (BD) are characterized by sleep disturbances and emotional dysregulation both during acute episodes and remission periods. We hypothesized that sleep quality (SQ) and emotional reactivity (ER) defined clusters of patients with no or abnormal SQ and ER and we studied the association with functioning.

We performed a bi-dimensional cluster analysis using SQ and ER measures in a sample of 533 outpatients patients with BD (in remission or with subsyndromal mood symptoms). Clusters were compared for mood symptoms, sleep profile and functioning.

We identified three clusters of patients: C1 (normal ER and SQ, 54%), C2 (hypo-ER and low SQ, 22%) and C3 (hyper-ER and low SQ, 24%). C1 was characterized by minimal mood symptoms, better sleep profile and higher functioning than other clusters. Although highly different for ER, C2 and C3 had similar levels of subsyndromal mood symptoms as assessed using classical mood scales. When exploring sleep domains, C2 showed poor sleep efficiency and a trend for longer sleep latency as compared to C3. Interestingly, alterations in functioning were similar in C2 and C3, with no difference in any of the sub-domains.

Abnormalities in ER and SQ delineated three clusters of patients with BD and significantly impacted on functioning.

Many studies have shown associations between a history of childhood trauma and more severe or complex clinical features of bipolar disorders (BD), including suicide attempts and earlier illness onset. However, the psychopathological mechanisms underlying these associations are still unknown. Here, we investigated whether affective lability mediates the relationship between childhood trauma and the severe clinical features of BD.

A total of 342 participants with BD were recruited from France and Norway. Diagnosis and clinical characteristics were assessed using the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies (DIGS) or the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders (SCID-I). Affective lability was measured using the short form of the Affective Lability Scale (ALS-SF). A history of childhood trauma was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Mediation analyses were performed using the SPSS process macro.

Using the mediation model and covariation for the lifetime number of major mood episodes, affective lability was found to statistically mediate the relationship between childhood trauma experiences and several clinical variables, including suicide attempts, mixed episodes and anxiety disorders. No significant mediation effects were found for rapid cycling or age at onset.

Our data suggest that affective lability may represent a psychological dimension that mediates the association between childhood traumatic experiences and the risk of a more severe or complex clinical expression of BD.

Previous studies of bipolar disorders indicate that childhood abuse and substance abuse are associated with the disorder. Whether both influence the clinical picture, or if one is mediating the association of the other, has not previously been investigated.

A total of 587 patients with bipolar disorders were recruited from Norway and France. A history of childhood abuse was obtained using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire. Diagnosis and clinical variables, including substance abuse, were based on structured clinical interviews (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders or French version of the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies).

Cannabis abuse was significantly associated with childhood abuse, specifically emotional and sexual abuse (χ2 = 8.63, p = 0.003 and χ2 = 7.55, p = 0.006, respectively). Cannabis abuse was significantly associated with earlier onset of the illness (z = −4.17, p < 0.001), lifetime history of at least one suicide attempt (χ2 = 11.16, p = 0.001) and a trend for rapid cycling (χ2 = 3.45, p = 0.06). Alcohol dependence was associated with suicide attempt (χ2 = 10.28, p = 0.001), but not with age at onset or rapid cycling. After correcting for possible confounders and multiple testing, a trend was observed for an interaction between cannabis abuse and childhood abuse and suicide attempt (logistic regression: r2 = 0.06, p = 0.039). Significant additive effects were also observed between cannabis abuse and childhood abuse on earlier age at onset (p < 0.001), increased rapid cycling and suicide attempt (logistic regression: r2 = 0.03–0.04, p < 0.001). No mediation effects were observed; childhood abuse and cannabis abuse were independently associated with the disorder.

Our study is the first to demonstrate significant additive effects, but no mediation effects, between childhood abuse and cannabis abuse on increased clinical expressions of bipolar disorders.