BIOCHEMISTRY OF THE AFFECTIVE-DISORDERS

Specific brain biochemical anomalies in depression and mania remain to be fully elucidated, but some significant clinical progress has been made. The 'norepinephrine hypothesis' has led to approaches that often make it possible to single out the patient most likely to respond to a particular tricyclic agent. In some patients, deranged circadian rhythms also seem to be involved in the cyclic patterns of manic-depressive disease.