Comparison of impulsivity, emotional instability, decision making and risky behaviors in patients with bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder

This study aimed to compare impulsivity, emotional instability, decision-making, and high-risk behaviors in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) and borderline personality disorder (BPD). The present study was a comparative causal study. The statistical population of the present study includes patients with BD and BPD in psychiatric centers and psychiatric hospitals in Tabriz in 2020. The sample consisted of 2 groups of 50 people, each of which was selected based on a semi-structured clinical interview. Research instruments included the Bart impulsivity questionnaire, Eisenhower personality questionnaire, Iowa gambling test, and Mohammadi high-risk behaviors questionnaire. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to analyze the hypotheses. The results showed that compared to BPD, participants with BD have significantly higher mean scores in impulsivities and high-risk decision-making (p < .05). On the contrary, the results also indicated that the mean scores of emotional instability and high-risk behaviors were higher in BPD (p < .05). Findings of the present study point to the fact that individuals with BD and BPD have unique problems in terms of impulsivity, high-risk decision-making, emotional instability, and high-risk behaviors. Thus, these findings must be taken into account by the healthcare specialists in order to provide effective and individualized treatments.