Abstract

SANCHEZ, Ricardo; RANGEL, Óscar  and  JARAMILLO, Luis Eduardo. Assessment of Mood Lability as a Symptom of the Manic Syndrome. rev.colomb.psiquiatr. [online]. 2010, vol.39, n.4, pp.654-664. ISSN 0034-7450.

Introduction: Mood lability is not considered a clinical symptom in diagnostic systems such as the DSM-IV or the ICD-10. However, some studies have described the presence of this symptom in patients with affective disorders. Objective: To evaluate mood lability as a representative symptom of the manic syndrome. Methods: An evaluation system for measuring mood lability has been developed and included in the EMUN scale. A total of 202 patients with manic, hypomanic, or mixed episode were assessed. The performance of the symptoms was evaluated using factorial multivariate methods and Rasch analysis. Results: Mood lability appears to be a good marker for manic, hypomanic, or mixed episode. Mania should be re-conceptualized as an activation syndrome instead of an affective syndrome. Depressive symptoms are clinical components of the syndrome. The findings of this study suggest that complementary criteria may be useful in diagnosing manic-depressive disorders.

Keywords : Bipolar disorder; depression; diagnosis.