Toward early detection of manic-depressive illness in psychoanalytic patients. I:Patients who later develop a manic illness.

Patients who eventually display clear signs of bipolar manic-depressive illness may initially be relatively asymptomatic and indistinguishable from classically analyzable cases. Several patients are presented whose subsequent manic decompensation was preceded by a combination of characterological traits (intensity, punning, insensitivity, etc.) whose presence should signal heightened vulnerability to bipolar illness. The family history was often positive for similar disorders.