Vol. 7, Issue 2, Part G (2025)

Mood and neurotic disorders represent two major categories of internalizing psychopathology that often overlap in symptom expression but differ in course, chronicity, and underlying personality organization. This case series presents a comparative psychodiagnostics analysis of four patients—two diagnosed with Bipolar Affective Disorder (BPAD) representing depressive and manic episodes respectively, and two with neurotic disorders (Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder). Each patient underwent comprehensive evaluation using cognitive, personality, and projective measures including PGI Memory Scale, MCMI-III, Rorschach Inkblot Test, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), and Sentence Completion techniques.

The results revealed distinctive yet interrelated psychological profiles. Bipolar cases demonstrated episodic dysregulation of affect and impulse, with contrasting intrapsychic dynamics between depression (internalization, dependency, rationalization) and mania (externalization, grandiosity, and acting out). Neurotic disorders showed persistent cognitive overcontrol, perfectionism, and anxiety-laden dependency conflicts, with obsessive-compulsive pathology reflecting over-intellectualized defenses and constricted affectivity.

Across all cases, common transdiagnostic vulnerabilities such as dependency-autonomy conflicts, emotional constriction, and maladaptive coping were evident, underscoring the need for multimodal psychodiagnostic formulations. Findings suggest that integrated cognitive-personality-projective profiling enhances diagnostic clarity, illuminates underlying mechanisms of chronicity or episodicity, and informs individualized, course-sensitive treatment planning.