BACKGROUND Anatomical abnormalities in the corpus callosum have been reported in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies in patients with bipolar but not unipolar disorder. MRI signal intensity can be used as a putative index of corpus callosum myelination. OBJECTIVES To measure MRI signal intensity in patients with bipolar and unipolar disorder to investigate abnormalities of corpus callosu...

BACKGROUND Establishing whether a depressive episode is part of a unipolar or bipolar disorder is essential for treatment planning. Over recent years, a growing number of publications have discussed psychopathological characteristics that might serve as indicators of bipolarity in patients with a history of depression dominated by unipolar symptoms. Our primary aim was to verify the adequacy of...

UNLABELLED To examine differences in QRS configuration produced by bipolar versus unipolar pacing, 12-lead electrocardiograms recorded during bipolar (distal cathode) pacing with 5- and 10-mm interelectrode distances were compared to electrocardiograms recorded during unipolar cathodal pacing from the distal catheter pole. Pacing was performed at a cycle length of 500 msec using each of the two...

Twelve unipolar manics satisfying the inclusion criteria of having had three episodes of mania without a depressive episode were compared against bipolar manics on clinical psychopathology, demographic variables and family history of psychiatric morbidity. We Found no differences between the two groups on any of the variables studied and concluded that unipolar mania is clinically homogenous wi...

BACKGROUND Current classification of unipolar depression reflects the idea that prognosis is essential. However, do DSM categories of major depressive disorder (MDD), dysthymic disorder (Dysth) and double depression (DD=MDD+Dysth) indeed adequately represent clinically relevant course trajectories of unipolar depression? Our aim was to test DSM categories (MDD, Dysth and DD) in comparison with ...

OBJECTIVES There are currently no accepted diagnostic criteria for bipolar depression for either research or clinical purposes. This paper aimed to develop recommendations for diagnostic criteria for bipolar I depression. METHODS Studies on the clinical characteristics of bipolar and unipolar depression were reviewed. To identify relevant papers, literature searches using PubMed and Medline w...

OBJECTIVE To investigate distinguishing features between bipolar I, II and unipolar depression, and impulsivity/aggression traits in particular. METHODS Six hundred and eighty-five (n=685) patients in a major depressive episode with lifetime Unipolar (UP) depression (n=455), Bipolar I (BP-I) disorder (n=151), and Bipolar II (BP-II) (n=79) disorder were compared in terms of their socio-demogra...