Afeto pseudobulbar e ideação suicida: há relação?

Objective: Pseudobulbar affect is a pathological form of emotional expression in which patients with neurological disorders have outbursts of laughing or crying that are incongruent with mood. Pseudobulbar affect is related to social isolation. Multiple sclerosis, in turn, is related to increased suicidality. The aim of this paper was to investigate the existence of any relationship between pseudobulbar affect and suicidal ideation in patients with multiple sclerosis. Methods: A total of 107 eligible, clinically stable patients with multiple sclerosis from the outpatient neurology clinic of Santa Casa de Misericordia de Belo Horizonte, Brazil, underwent a standard sequence of data collection, covering clinical and demographic information. They also completed the following instruments: Center for Neurologic Study-Lability Scale (CNS-LS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and BeckHopelessness Scale (BHS). Results: Among the patients with both multiple sclerosis and pseudobulbar affect, 41.17% showed suicidal ideation, compared to 24.65% among those with multiple sclerosis without  pseudobulbar affect. When depression was isolated as a confounding factor, no patients were found with pseudobulbar affect and suicidal ideation at the same time.Conclusion: Even though pseudobulbar affect is related to social isolation and mood disorders, this study did not find a relationship between pseudobulbar affect and suicidal ideation in the sample of patients with multiple sclerosis.