Relationship Between Adult Separation Anxiety Disorder and Suicide in Patients with Bipolar Disorder

Abstract

Life expectancy of patients with bipolar disorder (BD) is known to be shorter than the general population. Some of the premature deaths in these patients are attributed to unnatural causes such as suicide, accidents and homicides. Death due to suicide is 15 times more common in patients with GI compared to the general population. The present study aimed to investigate the comorbidity of Adult Separation Anxiety Disorder (ASAD) and the relationship between this comorbidity and suicide in patients with BD. A total of 138 outpatients with BD at remission between the ages of 18-65 years and 63 healthy controls were included in our study. All participants were administered a sociodemographic data form, Hamilton Depression Scale (HMDS), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Adult Separation Anxiety Questionnaire, and Structured Clinical Interview for Separation Anxiety Symptoms (ASAD-SCI). The age and gender of the participants did not differ significantly between the control group, the BD and BD+ASAD groups. The mean age of the participants was 42.3±11.9 years. When categorized according to gender, 42.3% of the participants were male and 57.7% were female. ASAD was detected in 46.3% of the participants. The suicide attempt rate was significantly higher in the BD and BD+ASAD groups than in the control group. The rate of suicide attempt was significantly higher in the BD+ASAD group than in the BB group. We demonstrated that the comorbidity of ASAD was associated with previous suicide attempts in patients with BD. Recognizing and treating ASAD in patients with BD may reduce suicide attempts in these patients.

Keywords

• suicidality
• separation anxiety
• bipolar disorder
• suicidality
• separation anxiety