Serum cholesterol concentrations and mood states in violent psychiatric patients: An experience sampling study

The well-documented negative association between serum cholesterol and aggr essive behavior has led Kaplan to propose a cholesterol-serofonin hypothesi s of aggression. According to this hypothesis, low dietary cholesterol inta ke leads to depressed central serotonergic activity which itself has been r eported in numerous studies of violent individuals. In the present study, 2 5 violent psychiatric patients participated in a microbehavioral experience sampling procedure to examine differences in self-reports of affective and cognitive experiences as a function of serum cholesterol concentrations. F or 7 days, they wore signaling devices that emitted an average of seven sig nals a day. Following each signal, patients filled out a mood questionnaire . Total serum cholesterol (TSC) concentration was positively associated wit h measures of affect, cognitive efficiency, activation and sociability, sug gesting a link between low TSC and dysphoria. These findings are consistent with the cholesterol-seroronin hypothesis and with the substantive literat ure linking both aggression and depression to depressed central serotonergi c activity.