FEATURES AND PREDICTIVE FACTORS OF BIPOLA RITY IN DEPRESSIVE-DISORDERS - STUDY ON 219 PATIENTS HOSPITALIZED FOR DEPRESSION

Bipolar disorders inclucle Bipolar I (BP I), Bipolar II (BP II), which are official categories of the DSM-IV (and ICD-10). Bipolar III (BP I II) could be added to this ''bipolar spectrum'', with cyclothymia, hyp erthymic personality, etc. Predictive factors of bipolarity have been proposed by Akiskal to predict the BP I (1983) and BP II (1995) conver sion of ''pseudo-unipolar depressions''.In a personal sample of 219 de pressed inpatients (DSM-III-R) - 107 unipolar patients and 112 of the ''bipolar spectrum'' (BP I, BP II, BP III) - we could confirm the vali dity of 6 predictors of bipolarity: pharmacological hypomania, postpar tum episode, bipolar family history, psychotic depression, retarded de pression, onset before 25 years. The presence of 3 or more of these va riables makes very highly probable the bipolar nature of a depressive disorder. The interest is practical as well as theoretical: treatment of BP and treatment of UP disorders are different.