The widespread assumption that some men who use synthetic testosterone become more manic or aggressive was confirmed in a study reported in the February Archives of General Psychiatry.

In a randomized placebo-controlled trial with men who had been screened to rule out physical and most major mental disorders and were taking large doses of an anabolic-androgenic steroid, testosterone cypionate, symptoms of mania and aggression significantly increased in a small group of the study subjects.

Most of the 56 men in the study showed little psychological change. The eight who did were no different from the nonresponders—demographically, psychologically, or physiologically or on various laboratory measures. The effects of the testosterone were independent of past use of such drugs or regular weight lifting.

The study was conducted by Harrison G. Pope Jr., M.D., and his colleagues at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., and the Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health.

A related article in the same issue reports on the use of testosterone in treating hypogonadal symptoms in HIV-positive men. Another reports the effects of administering testosterone to sexually functional women.