Cyclothymia in the adolescent offspring of parents with bipolar affective disorder.

Abstract

The present study explored the prevalence and types of psychopathology exhibited by the adolescent and young-adult offspring (ages 15-21) of patients with bipolar affective disorder. The major hypothesis of the study was that the offspring of bipolar patients would be characterized by an increased rate of cyclothymia. Subjects included 37 offspring of patients with bipolar affective disorder and 22 offspring of patients with nonaffective psychiatric disorders. Offspring received structured diagnostic interviews, conducted by interviewers unaware of parental diagnosis. Anonymous diagnoses were derived based on Research Diagnostic Criteria. The offspring of bipolar parents exhibited significantly higher rates of affective disorder, in general, and cyclothymia, in particular, than did the offspring of nonaffective psychiatric controls. The offspring groups did not differ on rates of nonaffective disorders. These results provide further support for a continuum model of bipolar disorder, in which cyclothymia is viewed as a mild form of full syndromal bipolar illness.In the past few years, there has been a burgeoning of interest in the offspring of parents with affective disorders (Beardslee, Bemporad, Keller, & Klerman, 1983;Kestenbaum, 1982;Morrison, 1983;Orvaschel, 1983). This interest stems from three major sources: (a) the high prevalence of affective disorders (Boyd & Weissman, 1982) and the fact that these disorders are particularly common during the child-rearing years (Coryell & Winokur, 1982;Weissman, 1979) indicate that large numbers of children are raised in families with an affectively disordered parent (Berg, Butler, Houston, & McGuire, 1984;Moss & Plewis, 1977;Richman, 1978); (b) familial-genetic studies indicate that offspring of parents with affective disorders are at

Studies of offspring of parents with bipolar disorder

“…Family studies of probands with ADHD and BD have supported this comorbidity as representing a familial type of early-onset BD. Klein et al [1985] 37 (24) Hammen [1990] 18 (14) 0 1 (6) 13 (72%) ***** All mothers with BD. 82% of unipolar comparison group with psychopathology Radke-Yarrow [1992] 44 (22) (56%) ****1/2 Results from subjects 8-11 years old reported here Carlson and Weintraub [1993] 128 6/125 (5%) 39 (30%) (at baseline) ?…”

“…Phenomenological bipolar offspring studies published between 1983 and 1993 [Kuyler et al, 1980;Waters and Marchenko-Bouer, 1980;LaRoche et al, 1981LaRoche et al, , 1985LaRoche et al, , 1987Decina et al, 1983;Gershon et al, 1985;Kashani et al, 1985;Klein et al, 1985;Hammen et al, 1987Hammen et al, , 1990Weintraub, 1987;Zahn-Waxler et al, 1988;Nurnberger et al, 1988b;Grigoroiu-Serbanescu et al, 1989;Radke-Yarrow et al, 1992;Carlson and Weintraub, 1993] were analyzed in a meta-analysis [Lapalme et al, 1997] (Table I). Of these 17 studies, 11 also included a comparison group of offspring of parents with no major mental disorder.…”

Suicidal risk in young adult offspring of mothers with bipolar or major depressive disorder: a longitudinal family risk study

“…A number of studies have failed to find evidence of a link between parental depression and offspring suicidality (e.g., Grigoroiu-Serbanescu et al, 1989;Klein, Depue, & Slater, 1985;O'Connell, Mayo, O'Brien, & Misrsheidaie, 1979;Waters & Marchenko-Bouer, 1980;Weissman et al, 1984). Differences are noted for suicidal risk in children of depressed parents when (a) suicidal risk is assessed as a broader continuum of thoughts or actions, (b) assessed across cumulative time points, or (c) large samples are available for study (e.g., Lewinsohn, Olino, & Klein, 2005;Weissman, Fendrich, Warner, & Wickramaratne, 1992;Welner, Welner, McCrary, & Leonard, 1977).…”

Maternal depression and child development

“…Two cross-sectional studies showed that adolescents with a depressed parent suffered from psychosocial maladjustment (38) and experienced a significantly higher rate of affective disorder than adolescents of nonaffective psychiatric control parents (39).…”