The effect of cluster B personality disorder comorbidity on the coping styles in patient with bipolar disorder

Abstract

Objective: The effect of the presence of cluster B personality disorders which are frequent comorbidities with bipolar I disorder on the coping strategies was investigated and also it was studied whether there was a different profile. Methods: The patients who were in remission period and had bipolar disorder were included in the study. All things considered, we included 50 male and 50 female patients who had bipolar I disorder in remission period with cluster B personality disorder, and 50 male and 50 female patients without cluster B personality disorder. SCID-I and SCID-II were used respectively. The COPE scale was also given to determine patients’ coping styles. Results: In terms of coping styles, the patients with cluster B personality disorder had higher dysfunctional coping styles scores. There were no significant differences for problem-focused coping scores, and emotion-focused coping scores among those patients. When the subscales were examined, the scores of focusing on emotions and expressing emotions, denial, retraining, and substance use subscales were higher among the patients with cluster B personality disorder. Conclusion: When the coping styles of bipolar patient groups those were divided according to having cluster B personality disorder or not were compared, it was seen that the group with cluster B personality disorder were using more dysfunctional coping styles. These findings can be important with regards to psycho-social interventions. Our findings must be replicated with larger and different comorbidity groups.