Clinical and quantitative EEG studies of mania.

Background: Earlier EEG studies reported essentially normal findings during acute manic episodes but some atypical EEG characteristics and distinctions between familial and sporadic cases were described. Recently quantitative EEG (qEEG) studies differentiating mania from schizophrenia and depression have been published.

Methods: Clinical EEGs were obtained in 202 patients hospitalized for acute mania.

Topographic EEG studies of mania.

QEEG findings from 39 hospitalized manic patients were accomplished after a drug free period and following pharmacotherapy with lithium or carbamazepine alone or lithium combined with carbamazepine, haloperidol or risperidone. A subsample of 10 drug-free manic patients was compared with normal controls, which revealed lower qEEG amplitudes in the left anterior and midtemporal regions in the patients. Comparisons of drug therapies showed increased delta amplitudes and total power with lithium compared with carbamazepine.

Melatonin for sleep EEG.

Melatonin 3 mg and secobarbital 100 mg assigned randomly were given to 40 psychiatric patients for sleep induction during EEG recording. Nine patients who did sleep naturally comprised a comparison group. EEGs were read blind; most were interpreted as mildly abnormal or within normal limits.

Clinical EEG findings in mania.

Clinical EEG findings from 202 hospitalized manic patients repeated during 131 recurrences of mania were described. Results were considered in the light of current issues in the literature including the incidence of EEG abnormalities and minor variations, relationships between EEG and family history, EEG lateralization and longitudinal course of illness. The majority of patients had normal EEGs or mild nonspecific deviations compatible with effects of psychoactive medications.