Theory of mind in patients with bipolar disorder / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore whether patients with bipolar disorder are deficit in their theory of Mind (ToM) and the factors influencing the ToM.Methods Three groups (27 with bipolar disorder,27 with schizophrenia,and 26 in health control) were tested.All subjects' ToM was assessed by Faux pas Questions and IQ by WAISR.The symptoms of groups of patients were measured by Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS).Results Three groups' scores of Faux pas Questions(ToM scores) displayed significance(One-Way ANOVAF(2,77) =13.686,P =0.000) ; Post-hoc test (Games-Howell) showed that ToM scores (13.81 ± 5.66) of bipolar disorder group were lower than those of the control group (17.04 ± 3.79) and higher than the schizophrenia group (9.44 ±6.13).The difference was significant (P =0.048,0.024).Independent sample t test showed that ToM scores of gender in bipolar disorder group were not significant (male13.20 ± 6.07,femal14.58 ± 5.26,t =-0.623,P =0.539).There was no correlation between ToM scores of patients with bipolar disorder and their age,years of education,age of onset,duration of illness,scores of negative,positive and general psychiatric rating scale of PANSS,and IQ (＞ 70).Linear regression by stepwise regression was used on each specific symptom of the PANSS,and according to the outcome,related factor was selected as independent variables,the ToM scores as the dependent variable.The regression equation was ToM scores =21.79-1.53 G12-3.16 N6 ;R2adjust was 0.46.Conclusion Patients with bipolar disorder as a whole compared to the control have deficit in their ToM,and the deficit is less than that of patients with schizophrenia.G12 and N6 of the PANSS are the influencing factors,which explain 46％of the variation sources.