Relationship Between Changes in Workplace Bullying Status and the Reporting of Personality Characteristics.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether a shift in work-related bullying status, from being non-bullied to being bullied or vice versa, was associated with changes in reporting of personality characteristics. METHODS: Data on bullying and personality (neuroticism, extraversion, and sense of coherence) were collected in three waves approximately 2 years apart (N = 4947). Using a within-subjects design, personality change scores that followed altered bullying status were evaluated with one-sample t tests. Sensitivity analyses targeted depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Shifts from non-bullied to frequently bullied were associated with increased neuroticism or decreased sense of coherence manageability scores. Shifts from bullied to non-bullied were associated with decreasing neuroticism and increasing extraversion scores, or increasing sense of coherence meaningfulness and comprehensibility scores. Excluding depressive cases had minor effects. CONCLUSIONS: Bullying seems to some extent to affect personality scale scores, which thus seem sensitive to environmental and social circumstances.

Bipolar and panic disorders may be associated with hereditary defects in the innate immune system.

BACKGROUND: Mannan-binding lectin (MBL) and mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease-2 (MASP-2) represent important arms of the innate immune system, and different deficiencies may result in infections or autoimmune diseases. Both bipolar and panic disorders are associated with increased inflammatory response, infections and mutual comorbidity. However, associations with MBL, MASP-2 or the gene, MBL2, coding for MBL, have not been investigated thoroughly. METHODS: One hundred patients with bipolar disorder, 100 with panic disorder and 349 controls were included. Serum concentrations of MBL and MASP-2 were measured and seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) influencing these concentrations were genotyped. Disease association with genetic markers and serum levels were investigated. RESULTS: In panic disorder, we observed a large proportion (30%) of MBL deficient (<100ng/ml) individuals and significantly lower levels of MBL and MASP-2 plus association with the MBL2 YA two-marker haplotype. Bipolar disorder was associated with the MBL2 LXPA haplotype and lower MASP-2 levels. LIMITATIONS: No information on course or severity of disorders was included, and only MBL and MASP-2 were measured, excluding other components from the complement pathway. Restrictions defined by ethnical committees preclude information of control׳s ethnic origin. CONCLUSIONS: Significant differences in MBL and MASP-2 concentrations were observed between cohorts, especially an intriguing finding associating panic disorder with MBL deficiency. These differences could not be fully explained by allele or haplotype frequency variations. Since MBL deficiency is highly heterogeneous and associated with both infectious and autoimmune states, more research is needed to identify which complement pathway components could be associated with bipolar respectively panic disorder.

The genetics of panic disorder.

Panic disorder (PD) is one of the most common anxiety disorders, with a prevalence of 3.4-4.7%. Although PD seems to have no known cause, and its underlying aetiology is not well understood, studies have consistently shown that genetic factors explain about half of the variance. It is likely that most cases of PD have a complex genetic basis. Existing data suggest, however, that the genetic architecture underlying PD is heterogeneous and differs between cases. For example, the degree of genetic complexity, and the pattern of genes involved might differ in familial versus non-familial cases, in early- versus late-onset cases, or when different comorbid conditions, gender and potential intermediate or sub-phenotypes are considered. At the molecular genetic level, linkage and association studies-the latter including traditional candidate gene and recent genome-wide studies-have been used to study PD. Although no robust molecular genetic findings have emerged so far, it is conceivable that the first PD susceptibility genes will be identified in the coming years via the application of modern molecular genetic methods and through multicentre collaborations to bring together combined, large datasets. Such findings could have a major impact on our understanding of the pathophysiology of this disorder, and would provide important opportunities to investigate genotype-phenotype correlations, as well as the interaction between genetic and environmental factors involved in the pathogenesis of PD. Here, the authors summarise the latest genetics findings about PD, and give an overview of anticipated future developments.

Potential consumers' attitudes toward psychiatric genetic research and testing and factors influencing their intentions to test.

Psychiatric genetic research brings on the possibility of psychiatric genetic testing. The optimal and responsible utilization of genetic testing depends on knowledge of the potential consumers' attitudes and expectations regarding testing. The aim of this study was to assess potential consumers' attitudes and expectations toward psychiatric genetics and factors influencing their intentions to test. A questionnaire constructed to assess attitudes and intentions toward psychiatric genetic testing was mailed or given in person to individuals participating in different genetic studies aiming at identifying genes predisposing for mental illness. A total of 397 persons diagnosed with major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or anxiety disorder participated in the survey. A large majority of the sample expressed an intention for themselves and their children to participate in psychiatric genetic testing. Support for prenatal testing was considerably less strong. A large minority expressed intention to test regardless of treatment possibilities. Intentions to test were positively associated with being a parent, trust in researchers, and expecting to feel better prepared for fighting the disorder when knowing of the presence of risk genes. Intentions were negatively associated with the fear of psychiatric genetic research bringing on too many difficult choices and fearing not to be able to cope with the results of a psychiatric genetic test. These results indicate that psychiatric genetic testing is not just perceived as a way to better treatment. Other expectations may motivate testing even though the clinical validity of the test is poor.

The structure of emotional and cognitive anxiety symptoms.

A sample of 327 patients with primary panic disorder or social phobia completed a questionnaire comprising 77 emotional and cognitive anxiety symptoms from which 12 index scales were constructed. Explorative factor analysis yielded two factors, but confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the factor solution was not invariant across diagnoses. Nevertheless, the two-factor structures fitting data from patients with panic disorder and social phobia, respectively, had similarities in content. The first factor, emotions and cognitive-social concerns, comprised emotional expressions (sadness, fear, and anger), cognitions about cognitive dysfunction (difficulty concentrating, confusion, and loss of control) and social phobic cognitions. It was positively correlated with severity of bodily anxiety symptoms and with the neuroticism personality trait. The second factor, fear of physical sensations, was positively correlated with a cardio-respiratory dimension of bodily anxiety symptoms in panic disorder, lending support to the hypothesis of specific threat-relevant links between bodily symptoms and catastrophic cognitions.

The association between bodily anxiety symptom dimensions and the scales of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory and the Temperament and Character Inventory.

The association between anxiety disorders and different measures of personality has been extensively studied to further the understanding of etiology, course, and treatment, and to possibly prevent the development of anxiety disorders. We have proposed a hierarchical model of bodily anxiety symptoms with 1 second-order severity factor and 5 first-order factors: cardio-respiratory, gastro-intestinal, autonomic, vertigo, and tension. The aim of this study was to investigate whether personality traits were differentially related to distinct symptom subdimensions or exclusively related to the general severity factor. Structural equation modeling of data on 120 patients with a primary diagnosis of social phobia and 207 patients with a primary diagnosis of panic disorder was used to examine the association between anxiety symptom dimensions and the scales of the Temperament and Character Inventory and of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. When both sets of personality measures were simultaneously modeled as predictors, the Revised NEO Personality Inventory scales, neuroticism and extraversion, remained significantly associated with the severity factor, whereas the association between the Temperament and Character Inventory dimensions, harm avoidance and novelty seeking, and the severity factor became nonsignificant. Harm avoidance was negatively associated with the vertigo first-order factor, whereas neuroticism was negatively associated with the cardio-respiratory first-order factor, indicating that personality factors may be differentially related to specific anxiety subdimensions.

Social phobia with sudden onset--post-panic social phobia?

Overlap between social phobia (SP) and panic disorder (PD) has been observed in epidemiological, family, and challenge studies. One possible explanation is that some cases of SP develop as a consequence of a panic attack in a social situation. By definition, these cases of SP have sudden onset. It is hypothesized that patients with SP with sudden onset are more similar to patients with comorbid SP and PD than to patients with SP without sudden onset regarding age of onset, extraversion, and prevalence of anxiety symptoms. One hundred and eighty-two patients with a lifetime diagnosis of PD and/or SP were recruited as part of an etiological study. Patients with SP with sudden onset did, as hypothesized, differ from patients with SP without sudden onset with regard to age of onset and extraversion, but not with regard to symptoms. They did not differ markedly from patients with comorbid SP and PD. The concept of post-panic SP is discussed.