The authors identified 46 cyclothymic probands from a random pool of 500
psychiatric outpatients and prospectively followed them over a 2-3 year
period. They used 50 bipolar patients with a definite history of mania and
50 patients with personality disorders as control groups. Although 66% of
the cyclothymic outpatients had previously received the diagnosis of
hysteria or sociopathy, their pedigrees were similar to those seen in
classical bipolar manic-depressive illness; furthermore, 44% of the
cyclothymic group experienced brief hypomanic episodes while taking
tricyclic drugs, and 35% developed full-blown hypomanic, manic, or
depressive episodes during drug-free follow-up. The authors conclude that
these findings provide evidence for a cyclothymic-bipolar spectrum.
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