SENSATION SEEKING AND BIPOLAR AFFECTIVE-DISORDER

Sensation seeking is a stable trait which is reflected in certain behavioral characteristics, such as risk-taking activities of many kinds. Several lines of research have suggested a relationship between sensation seeking and bipolar affective disorder. The Hypomania scale of the MMPI correlates with the Sensation Seeking Scale. Additionally, both bipolar affective disorder patients and high sensation seekers tend to show the augmenting pattern in average evoked response experiments and low levels of the enzyme monoamine oxidase. The current study tested a hospitalized bipolar affective disorder population on the Sensation Seeking Scale. Bipolar patients scored higher than the control group on the Disinhibition and Boredom Susceptibility subscales of the Sensation Seeking Scale even though about half of the group was currently in a depressive phase of the illness. Research using the Sensation Seeking Scale to identify high-risks groups is discussed.