Bipolar disorders are often not recognized. Several screening tools have been developed, e.g., the Hypomania Checklist-32 (HCL-32) and the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) to improve this situation. Whereas the German HCL-32 has been used in non-clinical samples, neither the HCL-32 nor the MDQ has been validated in German samples of mood-disordered patients. Additionally, hardly any prior study has included patients with non-mood disorders or has considered potential effects of comorbid conditions. Therefore the goal of this study was to test the validity of both scales in a diverse patient sample while also taking into account psychiatric comorbidity.
