Am J Psychiatry 1978; 135:974-976
Copyright © 1978 by American Psychiatric Association
Paranoid episodes in manic-depressive psychoses
WF Fry Jr
The author reports on 7 patients with a primary diagnosis of manic-
depressive psychosis who had brief but well-defined episodes of paranoid
symptomatology. These episodes apparently represent alterations of psychic
defense structure during the dynamic flow of the psychosis toward recovery.
In manic-depressive psychosis, with its genetic and physiologic components,
the paranoid episodes reaffirm the unitary nature of humans, in whom
heredity and physical and psychological factors inextricably interact.
