Changes in hostility during the course of hypomanic illness

Thirty patients with hypomania (or mania) were studied using the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire to establish by testing and retesting the same patients the changes that take place in hostility as a hypomanic illness remits. Highly significant decreases in total hostility, in extrapunitiveness, in criticism of others and in projected hostility were demonstrated. There was some evidence to suggest that acquiescent response set may be characteristic, not of the hypomanic state itself, but of individuals predisposed to develop such an illness. Hostility scores in recovered female hypomanics did not differ from those of control subjects once correction had been made for the effects of age and social class. As an exception to the rule, the case is described of a man with mild mental retardation where testing confirmed clinical and collateral observations of a massive increase in hostility on recovery from a hypomanic illness.