MMPI state dependency during the course of bipolar psychosis

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles completed during unambiguous manic, depressed, and euthymic periods were compared in a sample of 22 bipolar (manic-depressive) patients, 13 females and 9 males, drawn from an outpatient psychiatry clinic; each patient was "multiplex-selected" in that each had a first-degree relative with a severe psychiatric disorder. Both the manic and depressed phase MMPIs revealed significant and prototypical signs of psychopathology corresponding with the clinical picture. In contrast, the mean remission profile was entirely within normal limits. At least in some individuals, bipolar disorder seems to be associated with complete restitution of normality.