Objective:

Although schizotypy is generally described as a condition predisposing to schizophrenia, it can also be referred to as the nonspecific psychosis proneness in general. When we look at the dimensional evaluation, it may be suggested that the size of schizotypic dimension can be extended to other pathologies such as bipolar and obsessive compulsive disorder which do not end with the schizophrenia spectrum. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to evaluate the schizotypal features in a group of BP patients and to compare BP patients and their siblings in terms of schizotypal features.

Material and Methods:

Thirty-one bipolar patient and 31 healthy siblings who did not have any psychiatric diagnosis were included in the study. BP patients and healthy siblings were administered the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire.

Results:

Total schizotype scores of the patients were significantly higher than healthy siblings (p<0.001). In the comparison of scale scores between patients and siblings, it was observed that six of nine subscales of patient group were significantly higher than the scores of healthy siblings. According to three dimenisonal evaluation, cognitive perceptual and interpersonal schizotypy scores were found to be significantly higher in the patients (p<0.001). Besides, negative and positive schizotype scores were also higher in patient group (p<0.001). It was observed that the scale scores of the patients and their siblings were correlated.

Conclusion:

Our study showed that the total and subscores of Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire for BP patients were higher than their siblings, and that this result was correlated with the siblings.

Keywords: Bipolar disorder, schizotype, psychosis proneness