Distinctive sociodemographic, clinical and temperament characteristics of bipolar-I, bipolar-II and major depressive disorders.

INTRODUCTION Mood disorders are one of the significant mental disorders that decrease the quality of human life and disrupt the psychosocial functionality and interpersonal relationships. Recently, studies have suggested that affective temperaments are factors that determine the emergence and characteristics of mood disorders. METHODS 150 patients total were enrolled in the study, which aimed to compare the temperament, clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of 50 BD-I, 46 BD-II and 54 MDD patients. In order to determine clinical and sociodemographic features, we administered the SKIP-TURK structured follow-up questionnaire, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) and the TEMPS-A temperament rating scale for all patients. RESULTS The following clinical, sociodemographic and temperament characteristics were evaluated: such as history of psychiatric disorder of first and second degree relatives, comorbid hypothyroidism, age of onset of the mood disorder symptoms, the nature of the first episode of the mood disorder, seasonal course, mean duration of the episode, total number of episodes, severity of the mood episodes, and total number of hospitalizations. CONCLUSION Our results demonstrated that some sociodemographic, clinical and affective temperament characteristics may be good predictors for early diagnoses and treatment of BD and MDD.