[Risk factors of developing a continual course of manic-depressive psychosis]

To define factors contributing to formation of continual manic-depressive psychoses, 100 archival case reports were considered and 100 patients with the bipolar disease type were examined. Organic inferiority of the central nervous system and the treatment with tricyclic antidepressants were established to be of importance for the most part for the continual variety with rapid cycling. In psychoses with slow cycling, noticeable hereditary psychopathological aggravation and definite premorbid personality traits were found to be implicated.