Family-of-origin characteristics in bipolar disorder: a controlled study.

<bold>Objective: </bold>To assess the family-of-origin characteristics of patients with bipolar disorder relative to those of control subjects.<bold>Method: </bold>Fifty-six euthymic patients meeting research diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder and 21 control subjects completed the Family Environment Scale (FES) for the family they grew up with.<bold>Results: </bold>The 2 groups showed strikingly similar profiles on 10 indices of family functioning or structure.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>The results do not support the hypothesis that specific family attributes contribute to the development of bipolar disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]