A factor analytical study report on mania from Nepal.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Phenomenological studies on mood disorder are rare in Nepal which prompted us to undertake the current factor analytical study of mania.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a cross-sectional descriptive study for which we did purposive sampling technique according to certain inclusion and exclusion criteria. The study sample consists of fifty patients, who fulfilled the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition (ICD-10) diagnostic criteria for Manic Episode and/or Bipolar Affective Disorder-current episode mania. Tools used were ICD-10 Diagnostic Criteria for Research, Young's Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Principal component factor analysis was applied to the 35 symptoms taken from YMRS and BPRS.

RESULTS: Factor analysis revealed the presence of four main factors, which explained 51.082% of the total variance. These are "pure mania" which isolated 11 manic symptoms, "dysphoric mania" which isolated five depressive symptoms, "hostile mania" which isolated six symptoms, and the fourth factor, we called it "delirious mania," isolated four symptoms.

CONCLUSION: The identified factors and subtypes are a useful conceptualization of atypical features among patients with acute mania. Further validation studies are required to determine whether the identified subtypes are of clinical and theoretical importance.