STUDY OF DEFICIENCY IN THEORY OF MIND AND EMOTION REGULATION IN BIPOLAR DISORDER AND DEPRESSED PATIENTS COMPARED WITH NORMAL SUBJECTS

This study aimed to compare the theory of mind and emotion regulation deficits
in patients with bipolar disorder, major depression and normal people.
Materials & Methods: This study was cross-sectional analysis and it was conducted on 40 bipolar
patients, 40 depressed patients, and 50 normal people. They were selected by convenience random
sampling in Tabriz Razi Hospital. The control group was selected from the staff- employed in Tabriz
University. Data were collected through Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (RME-R test). The data
were analyzed by multivariate analysis of variance with SPSS 16 software.
Results: This study showed that there was significant difference between depressive and normal
group’s in theory of mind, emotion re-evaluation and suppression. This study also indicated that there
was significant difference between bipolar patients and normal people in theory of mind and emotion
suppression. But there was no significant difference between groups in the re-evaluation. The scores of
depressed patients in the emotion suppression compared to the normal group were more but, in reevaluation
and theory of mind, they obtained lower scores. There was no difference between the
scores of bipolar patients in re-evaluation compared to normal people, but they obtained less scores in
theory of mind and higher scores in emotion suppression.
Conclusions: The results showed that theory of mind in patients with bipolar disorder and depression
compared to normal people, is damaged. Depressed and bipolar patients use maladaptive emotional
suppression strategies more than adaptive re-evaluation strategy.