Evolution of symptoms of mania.

Mania has been known to result in undesirable consequences like illegitimate pregnancies, financial losses and ruined carriers. An early identification of the syndrome should result in early diagnosis and treatment and limit these undesirable consequences. This study was thus carried out to study the evolution of the manic episode and the factors influencing it. The guardians of 98 consecutive drug free manic patients were given a symptom check list and asked to rate the symptoms in the order of appearance and the duration of each symptom. It was found that there were no consistent patterns of evolution. The median duration of evolution was 45 days. Females and patients with life events had a shorter evolution period.