According to recent findings, certain clinical symptoms of the patients suffering from affective and anxiety disorder can be related to dissociation. The aim of our study is to examine if the level of dissociation in bipolar affective disorder differ from the level of dissociation in healthy volunteers.

41 patients suffering from bipolar disorder (51.2% females), and 198 healthy controls (71.2% females) were included in the study. The patients with bipolar affective disorder in remission of the illness were recruited from the Outpatient psychiatric department of Psychiatry Clinic of University hospital Olomouc. Patients were psychiatrically assessed and the state of the disorder was evaluated by experienced psychiatrist. Only patients in remission of the disorder, evaluated as 1 or 2 points of clinical global impression - severity scale, were included into the study. All participants were assessed with the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES).

The groups didn’t differ in demographic variables like age, gender and education. Patients had significantly higher mean score on the DES and pathological DES than healthy controls.

Our results suggest that the level of psychological dissociation in bipolar affective patients is higher than in healthy controls.

Supported by grant IGA MZ ČR NT11047