Predicting Affective States of Bipolar Disorder by the Chinese Adjective Descriptors of Personality

In Chinese culture, people appreciate social harmony, which might lead to an emotional fluctuation in bipolar disorder when discordance exists (Chapter “ Bipolar Disorders in Chinese Culture: From a Perspective of Harmony”). Chinese patients’ emotional variations might have their cultural-related personality bases. We have tested the Chinese Adjective Descriptors of Personality (CADP), and the scales measuring affective states, namely the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ), the Hypomanic Checklist-32 (HCL-32), as well as the Plutchik-van Praag Depression Inventory (PVP) in bipolar I (BD I) and II (BD II) disorder patients, and healthy volunteers. We found that both BD I and BD II groups got higher scores on the mood scales; BD II scored lower on the MDQ, but higher on the HCL-32 and PVP compared with BD I. Interestingly, in BD I, the CADP Intelligent trait predicted MDQ; Agreeable, Emotional and Intelligent traits predicted PVP. While in BD II, Agreeable, Unsocial and Intelligent traits predicted MDQ; Agreeable, Emotional and Intelligent traits predicted HCL-32. Four out of five CADP personality traits were linked with the affective states in patients, but they demonstrated different connections in the two types of bipolar disorder; and a Chinese culture featured similar influence of Intelligent trait on affective states of patients was found.