Research report Characterization of patients with mood disorders for their prevalent temperament and level of hopelessness Maurizio Pompili a,1 , Marco Innamorati a,1 , Xenia Gonda b,c,d,e , Denise Erbuto a , Alberto Forte a , Federica Ricci a , David Lester c,f , Hagop S. Akiskal g,h , Gustavo H. Vázquez i,j , Zoltan Rihmer b,k , Mario Amore l , Paolo Girardi a a Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Organs, Suicide Prevention Center, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy b Department of Clinical and Theoretical Mental Health, Kútvo lgyi Clinical Center, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary c Laboratory of Suicide Prevention and Research, National Institute for Psychiatry and Addictology d Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Semmelweis University e MTA-SE Neurohemistry Research Group f The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Pomona, NJ, USA g International Mood Center, La Jolla, California, USA h San Diego Veterans Administration Medical Center, San Diego, California, USA i Department of Neuroscience, University of Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina j International Consortium for Bipolar and Psychotic Disorder Research, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA k Laboratory of Suicide Prevention and Research, National Institute for Psychiatry and Addictology l Department of Neuroscience, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics, Maternal and Child Health, Section of Psychiatry, University of Genova, Genova, Italy article info Article history: Received 17 February 2014 Received in revised form 13 May 2014 Accepted 15 May 2014 Available online 23 May 2014 Keywords: Affective temperaments Bipolar disorder Hopelessness Major depressive disorder Mood disorders abstract Background: Mood disorders (MD) are disabling conditions throughout the world associated with significant psychosocial impairment. Affective temperaments, as well as hopelessness, may play a significant role in the pathophysiology of MD. The present study was designed to characterize patients with MD for their prevalent affective temperament and level of hopelessness. Methods: Five hundred fifty-nine (253 men and 306 women) consecutive adult inpatients were assessed using the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego-Autoquestionnaire version (TEMPS-A), the Gotland Scale for Male Depression (GSMD), the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Results: Higher cyclothymia and irritable temperaments were found in bipolar disorder-I (BD-I) patients compared to those with other Axis I diagnoses. Major depressive disorder (MDD) patients had lower hyperthymia than BD-I and BD-II patients and higher anxiety than patients with other Axis I diagnoses. Severe “male” depression was more common in BD-II patients compared to BD-I and MDD patients. BD-I patients and those with other axis I diagnoses reported lower BHS Z9 scores than those with BD-II and MDD. Limitations: The study had the limitations of all naturalistic designs, that is, potentially relevant variables were not addressed. Furthermore, the cross-sectional nature of the study did not allow conclusions about causation, and the use of self-report measures could be potentially biased by social desirability. Conclusion: MDD patients were more likely to have higher anxious temperament, higher hopelessness and lower hyperthymic temperament scores, while BD-I patients more often had cyclothymic and irritable temperaments than patients with other Axis I diagnoses. The implications of the present results were discussed. & 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Although affective disorders, including the unipolar and bipolar types of major depression, represent an increasing disease burden worldwide, we still lack sufficient knowledge concerning the background factors which, in turn, means that we lack sufficiently adequate and efficacious treatment (Goodwin and Jamison, 2007). As a result, these disorders are projected to be among those disorders associated with the highest disease burden in the future (Murray and Lopez, 2013). One major reason for the lack of more effective available treatments is our incomplete knowledge Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jad Journal of Affective Disorders http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2014.05.018 0165-0327/& 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1 They have contributed equally to this paper. Journal of Affective Disorders 166 (2014) 285–291