The Manic Depressiveness Scale: a preliminary effort at replication and extension

In a previous paper, an 18-item scale was presented to measure the extent to which a person had experienced symptoms resembling mania or clinical depression. There was evidence that, within a group of 37 bipolar persons, scores on this Manic Depressiveness Scale correlated significantly positively with number of manic-depression-relevant medications currently being taken by the subject. In the present study, 24 subjects (9 unipolar depressives, 15 bipolars) were administered this scale, and aspects of their clinical history were taken. For the bipolar subjects only, scores on the scale correlated significantly with number of relevant medications (r = .45, p < .05, one-tailed), with number of hospitalizations (r = .46, p < .05), and with psychiatrist-rated severity of illness (r = .45, p < .05). Bipolar patients also scored significantly higher than did unipolar patients on the Manic Experience subscale. The Manic Depressiveness Scale thus appears to have some predictive validity.