Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:09:40.706Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Life Events Precipitating Mania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Sidney Kennedy*
Affiliation:
Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, 250 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R8, Canada and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Ruth Thompson
Affiliation:
Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, 250 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R8, Canada and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Harvey C. Stancer
Affiliation:
Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, 250 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R8, Canada and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Alec Roy
Affiliation:
Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, 250 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R8, Canada and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
Emmanuel Persad
Affiliation:
Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, 250 College Street, Toronto, Ontario M5T 1R8, Canada and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto
*
Present address: Staff Psychiatrist, Affective Disorder Unit, Room 8–EN 220, Toronto General Hospital, 101 College Street, Toronto M5G IL7, Canada.

Summary

A study of 20 manic patients, with patient and matched control comparisons, showed a two fold increase in life events during the 4 month period before admission to hospital. Life events, independent of affective illness and having significant objective negative impact (i.e. traumatic) were significantly more common. These findings are considered in relation to social relationships, family history of affective illness and the use of psychotropic medication.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambelas, A. (1979) Psychologically stressful events in the precipitation of manic episodes. British Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 1521.Google Scholar
Andrews, G., Tennant, C., Hewson, D. & Vaillant, G. (1978) Life event stress, social support, coping style and risk of psychological impairment. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 166, 307–16.Google Scholar
Bartlett, F. C. (1932) Remembering: A Study of Experimental and Social Psychology. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W., Sklair, F., Harris, T. O. & Birley, J. L. T. (1973) Life events and psychiatric disorders Part 1: Some methological issues. Psychological Medicine, 3, 7487.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Harris, T. O. (1978) Social Origins of Depression. London: Tavistock Press.Google ScholarPubMed
Dohrenwend, B. P. & Dohrenwend, B. S. (Eds) (1974) Stressful Life Events: Their Nature and Effects. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Dunner, D. L., Patrick, V. & Fieve, R. R. (1979) Life events at the onset of bipolar affective illness. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 508–11.Google Scholar
Feighner, J. P., Robins, E. & Guze, S. B. (1972) Diagnostic criteria for use in psychiatric research. Archives of General Psychiatry, 26, 5763.Google Scholar
Finlay-Jones, R. A. & Murphy, E. (1979) Severity of psychiatric disorder and the 30-item General Health Questionnaire. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 609–16.Google Scholar
Glassner, B., Haldipur, C. V. & Dessauersmith, J. (1979) Role loss and working-class manic depression. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 167, 530–41.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. (1972) The Detection of Psychiatric Illness by Questionnaire. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goldthorpe, J. & Hope, K. (1974) The Social Grading of Occupation—A New Approach and Scale. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hall, K. S., Dunner, D. L., Zeller, G. & Fieve, R. P. (1977) Bipolar illness: a prospective study of life events. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 18, 497502.Google Scholar
Helzer, J. E., Robins, L. N., Croughan, J. L. & Welner, A. (1981) Renard diagnostic interview. Its reliability and procedural validity with physicians and lay interviewers. Archives of General Psychiatry, 38, 393–8.Google Scholar
Holmes, T. H. & Masuda, M. (1974) Life change and illness susceptibility. In Stressful Life Events: Their Nature and Effects (eds Dohrenwend, B. P. and Dohrenwend, B. S.). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Holmes, T. H. & Rahe, R. H. (1967) The social readjustment rating scale. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 2, 213–8.Google Scholar
Hudgens, R. W., Robins, E. & Delong, W. B. (1970) The reporting of recent stress in the lives of psychiatric patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 117, 635–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jenkins, C. D., Hurst, M. W. & Rose, R. M. (1979) Life changes: Do people really remember? Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 379–84.Google Scholar
Leff, J. P., Fischer, M. & Bertelsen, A. (1976) A cross-national epidemiological study of mania. British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 428–42.Google Scholar
Lipman, R. S., Hammer, H. M., Bernardes, J. F., Park, L. E. & Cole, J. O. (1965) Patient report of significant life situation events. Diseases of the Nervous System, 26, 586–90.Google Scholar
Lloyd, C. (1980) Life events and depressive disorder reviewed II Events as precipitating factors. Archives of General Psychiatry, 37, 529–35.Google Scholar
Patrick, V., Dunner, D. L. & Fieve, R. R. (1978) Life events and primary affective illness. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavia, 58, 4855.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S., Myer, J. K., Dienelt, M. N., Klerman, G. L., Lindenthal, J. J. & Pepper, M. P. (1969) Life events and depression. A controlled study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 21, 753–60.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S., Emms, E. M., Fletcher, J. & Rassaby, E. S. (1980) Life events and social support in puerperal depression. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 339–46.Google Scholar
Shopsin, B. (1979) Manic Illness. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Tennant, C., Bebbington, P. & Hurry, J. (1981) The role of life events in depressive illness: is there a substantial causal relation? Psychological Medicine, 11, 379–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weitkamp, L. R., Stancer, H. C., Persad, E., Flood, C. & Guttormsen, S. (1981) Depressive disorders and HLA: a gene on chromosome 6 that can affect behaviour. New England Journal of Medicine, 305, 1301–6.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.