Abstract

Bipolar disorder(BD) is characterized by (hypo)manic episodes, which include elevated mood and excessive goal-directed activity. The Risk factors of BD have been identified as difficulties in regulating positive and negative emotions, sensitivity of behavioral activation system, and difficulties in goal regulation. In addition to these factors, this study aimed to examine the difficulties in regulating passion. This study verified the hypothesis that obsessive passion, which is passionate but difficult to control and disrupts harmony with other areas of life, leads to bipolar disorder symptoms via affective lability, and that decentering, which involves observing thoughts and emotions in a non-judgmental manner, alleviates this process. A total number of 264 cyber university students participated in the on-line survey, which included the Obsessive Passion Scale (PS), the Affective Lability Scale-Short form (ALS-SF), the Internal State Scale (ISS) to measure current bipolar symptoms, the Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale (BSDS) to assess past manic episodes, and the Experiences Questionnaire (EQ). The result first showed a significant mediating effect of affective lability between obsessive passion and the bipolar symptoms in the past and the present. Next, this pathological mediating effect was moderated by decentering. This study suggests that even passion with prosocial values ​​can be a vulnerability to bipolar disorder symptoms, and decentering is necessary to alleviate the adverse effects of passion.