Subtypes of Mania Determined by Grade of Membership Analysis

Abstract

Classical descriptions of mania subtypes extend back to Kraepelin; however, in marked contrast to the study of depression subtypes, validation of mania subtypes by multivariate statistical methods has seldom been attempted. We applied Grade of Membership (GOM) analysis to the rated clinical features of 327 inpatients with DSM-III-R mania diagnoses. GOM is a type of latent structure multivariate analysis, which differs from others of this type in making no a priori distributional assumptions about groupings. We obtained 5 GOM Pure Types with good face validity. The major Kraepelinian forms of “hypomania,” “acute mania,” “delusional mania,” and “depressive or anxious mania” were validated. The major new finding is of two mixed mania presentations, each with marked lability of mood. The first of these displayed a dominant mood of severe depression with labile periods of pressured, irritable hostility and paranoia, and the complete absence of euphoria or humor. The second mixed mania Pure Type displayed a true, incongruous mixture of affects: periods of classical manic symptoms with euphoria, elation, humor, grandiosity, psychosis, and psychomotor activation, switching frequently to moderately depressed mood with pressured anxiety and irritability. This multivariate analysis validated classical clinical descriptions of the major subtypes of mania. Two distinct forms of mixed manic episodes were identified. DSM-III-R criteria did not reliably identify either of these two natural groups of mixed bipolar patients. As occurs in depression, this clinical heterogeneity of mania may influence response to drug treatments.