An Intensive Study of Twelve Cases of Manic-Depressive Psychosis†

An intensive study of 12 manic-depressive patients was made in order to reformulate, and further develop the dynamics of the character structure of these patients in terms of their patterns of interpersonal relationships. A comprehensive survey of the literature was made in order to determine the present state of development of psychopathological theory in regard to manic- depressive states. The manic-depressive character was investigated from the point of view of (1) the patterns of interaction between parents and child and between family and community; (2) the ways in which these patterns influenced the character structure of the child and affected his experiencing of other people in his subsequent life; and (3) the way in which these patterns are repeated in therapy and can be altered by the processes of psychotherapy.