Clinical study of 98 Iraqi patients showed less incidence of ideas of unworthiness and fewer suicidal thoughts than would be expected in a similar group of affective disorders in England. In depression there seemed to be less sadness, and in mania patients lacked the infective joyous mood of Western profiles. Physical symptomatology and hysterical behavior conspicuously colored depression while paranoid thinking and projection were common. Mania, conversely, was characterized by aggression and more antisocial behavior than in the West. Cultural influences and child rearing may explain differences in personality structure.