[Differences in Subjective Experience Between Unipolar and Bipolar Depression].
Marco Fierro, Andrés Bustos, Carlos Molina
Revista Colombiana de psiquiatria 2016 DOI: 10.1016/j.rcp.2015.09.006 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Phenomenological-oriented qualitative exploratory study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 12 |
| Population | Patients with depression: 7 with bipolar depression and 5 with unipolar depression (3 men and 9 women) |
| Measures | Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience (EASE) |
| Topics | Philosophy of mind Depression |
| Keywords | Bipolar depression Bipolar disorder Depresión bipolar Depresión unipolar Ease Fenomenología Symptoms Síntomas Trastorno bipolar Unipolar depression |
| Key findings | The authors report qualitative differences between bipolar and unipolar depression in predominant mood (emotional dampening vs. sadness), bodily experience (a heavy, tired body obstructing action vs. a body more comfortable with stillness), cognition (slower thinking and greater difficulty understanding what is heard or read in bipolar), and future perspective (stronger and broader hopelessness in bipolar depression). |
Abstract
It is important to make distinction between bipolar and unipolar depression because treatment and prognosis are different. Since the diagnosis of the two conditions is purely clinical, find symptomatic differences is useful. Find differences in subjective experience (first person) between unipolar and bipolar depression. Phenomenological-oriented qualitative exploratory study of 12 patients (7 with bipolar depression and 5 with unipolar depression, 3 men and 9 women). We used a semi-structured interview based on Examination of Anomalous Self-Experience (EASE). The predominant mood in bipolar depression is emotional dampening, in unipolar is sadness. The bodily experience in bipolar is of a heavy, tired body; an element that inserts between the desires of acting and performing actions and becomes an obstacle to the movement. In unipolar is of a body that feels more comfortable with the stillness than activity, like laziness of everyday life. Cognition and the stream of consciousness: in bipolar depression, compared with unipolar, thinking is slower, as if to overcome obstacles in their course. There are more difficult to understand what is heard or read. Future perspective: in bipolar depression, hopelessness is stronger and broader than in unipolar, as if the very possibility of hope was lost. Qualitative differences in predominant mood, bodily experience, cognition and future perspective were found between bipolar and unipolar depression.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on depression, most cited first.