[Personality traits in patients with unipolar and bipolar disorder].

AIM: To compare the personality traits as described by H. Eysenck in persons with unipolar and bipolar disorder and healthy persons.
METHOD: 60 patients with a diagnosis of uni- and bipolar disorder were studied with the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-R).
RESULTS: It was noted that there are significant differences amongst the groups in their neuroticism and extraversion but no differences were noted in the domain of psychoticism. Patients diagnosed as having unipolar disorder have a significantly higher level of neuroticism and a lower level of extraversion than those having bipolar disorder. These domains also differentiate the affective disorder patients from healthy individuals.
CONCLUSIONS: The knowledge about the individual characteristic personality traits of patients with affective uni- and bipolar disorder can be important for the diagnostic and therapeutic processes in these disorders, therefore further study on these characteristics is necessary.