bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Anti-Cholinergic Drugs and Memory: the Effects of Benzhexol on Memory in a Group of Geriatric Patients
Authors: Potamianos G. , Kellett J. M.
Published: August 2008

A double blind trial on the effects of 2 mg of benzhexol on memory was performed on thirteen elderly subjects without cognitive impairment. The tests given 90 minutes after the drug or placebo involved learning a list of ten words, a paired-associate learning task, learning a short story and a test of digit span. Subjects were asked to recall the word list one minute after an interfering task, and 6 items from the story directly. Digit span involved immediate recall and the paired learning was measured by the number of trials necessary to learn. All tests were significantly impaired by the benzhexol except for digit span. This suggests that muscarinic blocking drugs should be avoided in the elderly, as they mimic the memory deficits found in senile dementia of Alzheimer type.
Reliability and Validity of a Tardive Dyskinesia Videotape Rating Technique
Authors: Barnes Thomas R. E. , Trauer Thomas
Published: August 2008

Ninety-four psychiatric in-patients, receiving regular antipsychotic medication, were videotaped using a standard procedure. The tapes were rated by blind observers using a simple scoring system for the duration of abnormal movements. Using this combined videotape and rating scale assessment technique the re-rating reliability, inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability were high. In order to demonstrate the validity of the technique the rating scale scores in a sub-sample of 30 patients, were compared with the assessment of three experienced clinicians on the same patients, and AIMS scores. Central (lip, tongue, jaw and neck movements) scores showed close agreement with the clinicians' assessment, suggesting that clinical diagnosis is based principally on the presence and severity of oro-facial dyskinesia. Total rating scale scores were in close accord with total AIMS scores. When the two scales were carried out on the same patients on the same occasion a diagnostic criterion level of 2 or more on the central score produced a tardive dyskinesia prevalence rate identical to that produced by an AIMS criterion level of 2 or more on the global severity rating. The tardive dyskinesia prevalence rate based on the central score criterion level showed an increase with age.
Schizophrenia: A Comparative Study of Patients with and Without Family History
Authors: Baron Miron , Gruen Rhoda , Asnis Lauren
Published: August 2008

To test the hypothesis that schizophrenia can be differentiated on the basis of family history, the authors compared two matched samples of 20 patients each, distinguished by the presence or absence of family history of schizophrenia. Family history was not associated with either onset characteristics, symptom picture, phenomenological subtypes of schizophrenia, prognostic indicators or global assessment score for psychosocial functioning.
A Chronic Impairment of Colour Vision in Users of LSD
Authors: Abraham Henry David
Published: August 2008

Forty-six users of the hallucinogen lysergic acid diethylamide were compared with 31 controls on a test of colour discrimination an average of two years after their last exposure to the drug. Controls performed better than users, and LSD users without flashbacks performed better than users with flashbacks. An analysis of variance between the three groups was significant at P <0.001. This study suggests that some users of LSD may have a sustained or irreversible impairment in colour discrimination.
Measurement of Alcohol Withdrawal in Detoxification Centre Patients
Authors: Makanjuola Julius D. A. , Faragher Brian , Rees David W.
Published: August 2008

The pattern and severity of alcohol withdrawal in 49 alcohol dependent subjects admitted to the Manchester Detoxification Centre are described. Assessment over 10 days involved the use of the Selected Severity Assessment Scale (SSA) and allocation of patients to subgroups of the alcohol withdrawal syndrome. There were associations between tremor, clouding of sensorium, hallucinations and convulsions (items of the SSA) and the four pre-delirious clinical sub-groups identified. We concluded that clinical assessment of the pre-delirious stage took into account these four variables and that there was little value in the routine use of the SSA on a unit such as ours.
Lithium in a Case of Severe Anorexia Nervosa
Authors: Stein G. S. , Hartshorn S. , Jones J. , Steinberg D.
Published: August 2008

Anorexia nervosa may sometimes be resistant to all forms of therapy, with cases running through a gamut of somatic and psychological treatments. One possible explanation for this may be that the illness is of heterogeneous aetiology (Kay and Leigh, 1938; King, 1963; Feighner et al, 1972), although others regard anorexia as a single condition that tends to breed true though having protean manifestations (Russell, 1970; Crisp et al, 1980). In most of the larger series of cases, a proportion have depressive symptoms both during the illness (Dally, 1969; Theander, 1970; Crisp et al, 1980) and some years later (Morgan and Russell, 1975; Hsu et al, 1979), and a family history of affective disorder is also commonly reported (Dally, 1969; Theander, 1970; Morgan and Russell, 1975). Cantwell et al (1977) have reviewed the complex relationship between depression and anorexia nervosa and have suggested that some of the remedies used in the treatment of depression merit further exploration in the management of anorexia nervosa. We report here a patient who was in hospital for over four years and in whose eventual improvement lithium may have played an important role.
The Nithsdale Schizophrenia Survey: III. Handedness and Tardive Dyskinesia
Authors: McCreadie Robin G. , Crorie John , Barron Elizabeth T. , Winslow George S.
Published: August 2008

Handedness was assessed in 87 per cent (n = 116) of all known schizophrenics from a discrete geographical area, Nithsdale in Dumfries and Galloway Region. Seventy-three per cent were right-handed, a proportion greater than that found in a normal population. It was especially Feighner positive schizophrenics and non-in-patients who produced the excess of right-handers. Within the Feighner positive group, 68 per cent of mixed or lefthanders, but only 29 per cent of right-handers, had tardive dyskinesia.
Family Transmission of Schizophrenia: A Review and Synthesis
Authors: Karlsson Jon L.
Published: August 2008

The more recent large scale family investigations of schizophrenia are reviewed, particularly studies in which the authors have compared the rates in relatives of index cases with those of the general population. The risk of psychotic illness is increased four-fold in first-degree relatives and two-and-a-half-fold in second-degree relatives over that of the population at large. The possible genetic mechanisms are evaluated, with the conclusion that modified dominant transmission, based on a single major gene, is a plausible system.
Intellectual Function in Primary Affective Disorder
Authors: Donnelly Edward F. , Murphy Dennis L. , Goodwin Frederick K. , Waldman Ivan N.
Published: August 2008

The possible effects of clinical depression on intellectual function were investigated in unipolar and bipolar patients. Ninety-six hospitalized depressed patients completed the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) on admission and 34 were retested on remission. The high average full scale IQs found remained relatively stable throughout, consistent with earlier studies indicating a limited relationship between intellectual function and clinical severity of depression. No evidence was found for retarded psychomotor activity in bipolar groups or increased psychomotor activity in unipolar groups on three WAIS subtests of psychomotor function, but full scale IQ increased slightly in hypomania.
The Association between Family Atmosphere and Hospital Career of Schizophrenic Patients
Authors: Angermeyer Matthias C.
Published: August 2008

The content analysis was made of special thirty minute discussions between each of 30 acute male schizophrenics and their parents to determine features of parental personality. All patients were discharged, but after 2 years 13 of them had been readmitted. Compared with those not readmitted their fathers expressed more outward-directed hostility and hostility projected on to others, and their mothers expressed more inward-directed hostility as well as guilt anxiety and shame anxiety. Both parents were emotionally more unstable during the course of the discussion. The emotional interaction between mothers and sons was of symmetrical type (whereas it was complementary between mothers and sons who had not been readmitted).
Electro-Convulsive Therapy with Minimum Hazard
Authors: Gordon Douglas
Published: August 2008

The inter-electrode resistance during ECT is shown to be very variable, a finding which invalidates the measurement of shocks in joules. With square wave pulses of selected current value the threshold for convulsion may be below 100 milliamperes or above 2,000 milliamperes. It is advisable to measure the current value during millisecond pulses with relatively long intervals between.
Estimating Suicide Risk among Attempted Suicides: I. the Development of New Clinical Scales
Authors: Pallis D. J. , Levey A. B. , Jenkins J. S. , Sainsbury P. , Barraclough B. M.
Published: August 2008

A discriminant function analysis was carried out to separate a sample of 75 suicides from a sample of 146 attempted suicides, on which comprehensive clinical and social data were recorded on an identical schedule. Two sets of discriminating items (with 18 and 6 variables) correctly classified 91 per cent and 83 per cent of the two samples in their respective groups. The results provide a basis for examining the usefulness of these variables as predictors of future suicide in people who have attempted suicide.
A Comparison of Depression Rating Scales
Authors: Kearns Norma P. , Cruickshank C. A. , McGuigan K. J. , Riley S. A. , Shaw Susan P. , Snaith R. P.
Published: August 2008

In a comparison of assessment methods of severity of depressive illness, the Montgomery-åsberg Scale had, broadly, a performance equal to the Hamilton Scale. The Beck Depression Inventory, its subscale, and the Wakefield Inventory all had overall poor performances and should now be abandoned in research. The two-patient-rated scales were, overall, similar and fairly satisfactory measures. The comparisons were at points in severity of illness and not on change of severity.
Randomized Comparative Trial of a Ward Discussion Group
Authors: West E. D. , Jackson A. , Physentides A. , Seenivasagan S. , Jezard P. , Nicholson A. , Ram R. , Knight H.
Published: August 2008

A randomized controlled study of 38 catchment unit psychiatric in-patients in a discussion group showed no significant additional benefit compared with 36 in-patients in an activity group. Symptom change scored by three rating groups agreed closely, average r = +0.64. Patients treated with ECT showed 2.6 times as much reduction in morbidity as those not so treated, but there was still no appreciable difference between discussion and activity groups when this was allowed for. Other treatment factors and the Hawthorne effect appeared to obscure any effect due to group therapy.
Plasma Folate and Affective Morbidity During Long-Term Lithium Therapy
Authors: Coppen A. , Abou-Saleh M. T.
Published: August 2008

In 107 patients on long-term lithium, those with lower plasma folate concentration had a higher affective morbidity than those with higher folate, both at the time and during the previous two years. The association was not the result of weight change or the concomitant use of other drugs. Animal work reporting a decreased synthesis of 5-HT both in folate-deficient animals and in animals fed excessive amounts of folate suggests that it may be important for lithium patients to receive folate supplements to their diet for maximum therapeutic effect.
Behavioural Psychotherapy of Uncommon Referrals
Authors: Greenberg David , Marks Isaac
Published: August 2008

In a behavioural clinic, over a period of nine years, trainee nurse-therapists treated 65 unusual referrals (8 per cent) out of a total of 800 patients. The remainder had phobic, obsessive-compulsive, sexual and social disorders, which responded encouragingly to behavioural treatment. Of the unusual referrals, useful results were obtained by behavioural treatment for stuttering, hairpulling, tics, and writer's cramp; bulimia is worth further study. Unresponsive conditions included compulsive gambling and obesity.
Prognosis in Chronic Mental Disability
Authors: Morgan Roger , Gray Sean
Published: August 2008

In a replication study three performance variables measured at the beginning of 200 patients' rehabilitation courses were combined to form an Index to quantify the degree of initial disability. The Index score was significantly associated with the ten-year outcome, and hence has predictive value. With it a level of disability can be specified beyond which a patients' prospect of resettlement is predictably hopeless from the outset despite prolonged and intensive rehabilitative efforts. On the other hand, many less disabled patients cannot achieve resettlement unless such efforts are made. There are, therefore, humanitarian and economic reasons for seeking to distinguish these two groups.
Tardive Dyskinesia and Skin Pigmentation
Authors: Ananth Jambur , Yassa Ramzy
Published: August 2008

Within the past 15 years, it has become clear that the continuing administration of neuroleptics can produce several long term side effects, the two most important being tardive dyskinesia (TD) and skin pigmentation. In mental hospital surveys, the proportion of patients with TD has been described as about 30 to 40 per cent. At this point, there is no recognized treatment although some cases improve if the drug is discontinued (Jeste et al, 1979). In addition, TD may increase mortality (Mehta et al, 1978).
When Truants and School Refusers Grow Up
Authors: Berg Ian
Published: August 2008

Truancy is the term commonly used to describe unjustifiable absence from school. Persistent truancy occurs in approximately 1 per cent of primary school children. It increases considerably over the secondary school years to affect about 10 per cent of 15-year-olds. It is often associated with evidence of other antisocial activity. Educational attainment is inclined to be low. And children who truant often come from disadvantaged homes (Fogelman et al, 1980). Truancy in cases referred to child psychiatrists is usually just one manifestation of a conduct disorder characterized by a whole variety of antisocial behaviour (Hersov, 1960).
The Response of Endogenously and Reactively Depressed Patients to Electroconvulsive Therapy
Authors: Vlissides D. N. , Jenner F. A.
Published: August 2008

Patients diagnosed as reactively or endogenously depressed were given electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). The endogenously depressed patients tended to respond to the treatment more quickly and favourably. Measures of age and severity of depression were as predictive as the classification into endogenous or reactive depression using the Newcastle rating scale. The degree of psychological stress ascertained and presumed to be operating did not contribute to the prediction of outcome.
Influence of Acetylator Phenotype on Antidepressant Effects of Phenelzine
Authors: Paykel E. S. , West P. S. , Rowan P. R. , Parker R. R.
Published: August 2008

Acetylator phenotype, determined by blood levels after sulphadimidine, was related to outcome in a controlled trial of phenelzine in patients with depression and mixed anxiety depression. Slow acetylators showed more improvement and greater phenelzine-placebo differences than did fast acetylators, at two, four and six weeks. A tendency towards faster acetylation was observed in subjects with previous increased alcohol intake. Acetylator phenotype was not related to other symptom, diagnostic or history data.
Social Networks, Attachments and Support in Minor Affective Disorders: A Replication
Authors: Brugha T. , Conroy R. , Walsh N. , Delaney W. , O'Hanlon J. , Dondero E. , Daly L. , Hickey N. , Bourke G.
Published: August 2008

Significant deficiencies in personal social networks and social support in non-psychotic psychiatric out-patients have been reported by Henderson and his colleagues. In a replication study, 50 non-psychotic psychiatric out-patients were compared with 50 matched controls. Patients reported spending less time in social interaction, but more time in unpleasant interaction during the previous week; they also had fewer attachment figures, close relatives and good friends and fewer social contacts than controls. However, the separate analysis of Neurotic and Retarded depressives (using the Present State Examination) failed to replicate all these findings in the Retarded depressives. It is concluded that these associations are confirmed in neurotic patients, but that the more severe depressive disorders require further investigation.
A Comparative Study of Pse/Catego and Diasika: Two Psychiatric Computer Diagnostic Systems
Authors: Schmid W. , Bronisch T. , Von Zerssen D.
Published: August 2008

An unselected series of 100 psychiatric in-patients was independently diagnosed by two clinicians using the PSE and by two computer diagnostic systems: CATEGO based on PSE items and DiaSiKa based on AMDP items. The computer programs are compared with respect to their diagnostic agreement with the clinical diagnoses.
Crisis Intervention in Psychogeriatrics: A Two-Year Follow-Up Study
Authors: Ratna L.
Published: August 2008

Over a six-month period, 142 referrals of patients aged over 65 to a community-orientated psychogeriatric service in North London were studied, and their progress followed for a further two years. The emphasis was on domiciliary management by initiating and supporting caring networks. More active involvement in the community by hospital staff is suggested.
Failure to Mourn, and Melancholia
Authors: Pedder Jonathan R.
Published: August 2008

This paper reviews ideas about depression and mourning from various quarters, particularly from psychoanalytic writings, from the work of George Brown on the social origins of depression and from some of the work in behavioural psychotherapy on guided mourning. Its essence is foreshadowed in a statement of Winnicott's: “If in an individual the depressive position has been achieved and fully established, then the reaction to loss is grief, or sadness. Where there is some degree of failure at the depressive position the result of loss is depression”.
The Asymmetric Lateralization of Tactile Extinction in Schizophrenia: the Possible Role of Limbic and Frontal Regions
Authors: Scarone Silvio , Pieri Elisabetta , Gambini Orsola , Massironi Roberto , Cazzullo Carlo L.
Published: August 2008

This study evaluates the tactile extinction rate in acute and chronic schizophrenics by means of the Quality Extinction Test (QET) proposed by Schwartz in 1977. This procedure is successful in detecting ipsilateral abnormal extinction rates in neurological patients with dominant frontal lesions. Sixty schizophrenics and sixty controls were tested. The results suggest adominant temporo-parietal dysfunction in acute patients and a dominant frontal dysfunction in chronic patients.
Abrupt Discontinuation of Tricyclic Antidepressant Drugs: Evidence for Noradrenergic Hyperactivity
Authors: Charney Dennis S. , Heninger George R. , Sternberg David E. , Landis D. Harold
Published: August 2008

The effect of abrupt discontinuation of amitriptyline, desipramine, or imipramine) on norepinephrine turnover and specific symptoms in seven depressed patients was examined. Turnover, as determined by plasma and urinary 3 methoxy-4-hydroxy-phenylethylene glycol (MHPG), was increased to a peak during the second week following discontinuation. There were no changes in blood pressure or heart rate. Two of the seven patients experienced clear increases in anxiety. The implications for the role of noradrenergic function is discussed.
Lithium withdrawal Trial in Chronic Schizophrenia
Authors: Delva N. J. , Letemendia F. J. J. , Prowse A. W.
Published: August 2008

Six schizophrenic patients treated with lithium and neuroleptics for at least two years had their lithium medication stopped. Two patients relapsed within two weeks, and four did not after one year of follow-up.
Pathways to Opiate Addiction: An Evaluation of Differing Antecedents
Authors: Rounsaville Bruce J. , Weissman Myrna M. , Wilber Charles H. , Kleber Herbert D.
Published: August 2008

This paper defines and tests a typology of addicts defined through assessment of the sequence of three types of key events: (a) traumatic childhood events such as death of a parent or child abuse; (b) onset of regular delinquent activity; and (c) initiation of illicit drug use. By evaluating the sequence of these events three groups are defined: (a) an initial childhood trauma group; (b) an early delinquency group; and (c) an initial drug use group. Data derived from a sample of treated opiate addicts are used to define and differentiate these three groups.
Manic Disorder in Nigerians
Authors: Makanjuola Roger O. A.
Published: August 2008

A prospective study of 45 cases, 25 of whom had had previous episodes of affective disorder, predominantly manic, showed further episodes in 14 cases. A positive history of psychotic disorder in 1st-degree relatives, not always affective, was obtained in only eight cases. There was a history of drug abuse in seven patients. The clinical presentation in the Nigerian patients was similar to that described in the classical literature, but, flight of ideas was uncommon.
Recall of a 10-Word List in the Assessment of Dementia in the Elderly
Authors: Harris S. J. , Dowson J. H.
Published: August 2008

Residents of homes for the elderly with a history of impaired memory compatible with senile Alzheimer dementia were assessed by a paired-associate learning test (PALT) and a word list recall test. The latter discriminated between groups of individuals categorized according to severity of cognitive impairment by the PALT. It may be suitable for the assessment of memory for new information in clinical practice and for the evaluation of change in clinical trials of treatments for dementia.
The Outcome for Discharged Nottingham Long-Stay In-Patients
Authors: Howat J. G. M. , Kontny E. L.
Published: August 2008

Follow-up of a large number of long-stay in-patients who were discharged because of local policy showed a high rate of readmission but also much subsequent re-discharge and low overall dependence on inpatient services. There was a high uptake of other forms of support, especially day care; and little evidence of further movement by the patients towards independence. The rate of mortality for the discharged patients was similar to that for the general population.
Pneumo-Encephalographic and Computerized Axial Tomography Scan Changes in Affective Disorder
Authors: Standish-Barry H. M. A. S. , Bouras N. , Bridges P. K. , Bartlett J. R.
Published: August 2008

The pneumo-encephalographs and computerized axial tomography scans of fifty patients with severe affective disorder were studied. Measures of ventricular size were compared with those reported by other workers. Findings suggested that some patients suffering from severe affective illness showed abnormalities of brain structure as demonstrated by ventricular enlargement.
Phoneme Discrimination in Schizophrenia
Authors: Kugler Barbara T. , Caudrey David J.
Published: August 2008

Ear differences on a task involving a simple phonetic judgement were investigated in schizophrenic subjects using both healthy normal and depressed patient control groups. A deficit in phonemic differentiation was demonstrated and appeared to be specific to the schizophrenic group. The result is interpreted as supporting the hypothesis of a central dysfunction lateralized to the left hemisphere in schizophrenia.
Accuracy of Behavioural Assessment by Computer
Authors: Carr Anthony C. , Ghosh Anindya
Published: August 2008

An automated assessment interview was given by a microcomputer to 26 randomly selected patients, referred for treatment of phobias. The results were compared with those of conventional clinical assessment by experienced behaviour therapists. Ratings of overall severity and intensity of specific types of agoraphobia and social phobia were derived from the computer interview, and correlated very closely with global ratings by the clinician and also with an independent structured clinical assessment. The computer also elicited behavioural targets to serve as a basis for exposure treatment. Blind assessors rated these targets as highly as those arrived at by clinicians in respect of their practicability, precision and appropriateness for treatment. The automated technique is inexpensive, saves clinicians' time and can be made widely available for screening, assessment and progress monitoring. It may also provide a basis for automated exposure treatment.
Long-Term Effects of Treatment in a Pre-School Day Centre: A Controlled Study
Authors: Richman Naomi , Graham Philip , Stevenson Jim
Published: August 2008

A five-year follow-up of 25 children who attended a psychiatric day centre for pre-school children is described. This group was compared at eight years of age with two matched control groups who had not received intensive treatment. There were few differences between the treated and untreated groups. Possible reasons for the findings are discussed and some methodological issues involved in carrying out evaluation studies are raised.
The Relationship of Handedness to the Cognitive, Language, and Visuo-Spatial Skills of Autistic Patients
Authors: Tsai Luke Y.
Published: August 2008

The relationship between hand preference, age, and developmental functioning was examined in 70 autistic patients. Unilateral or mixed handedness appeared to be stabilized by the age of five years. Patients with established hand lateralization tended to function better in all developmental areas including intelligence, language, and visuospatial abilities. It is a tenable hypothesis that the presence or absence of hand lateralization by age five may be an important predictor of outcome in autism.
Drugs and Delinquency
Authors: Gordon Alistair M.
Published: August 2008

The addiction and conviction status of 60 male patients who presented to a London drug clinic in 1970 was re-examined 10 years later. Eleven of the patients had died. Three-quarters of the survivors had been abstinent for five years and one quarter were still addicted in this time. Ninety-seven per cent had received a court conviction by 1981 and 83 per cent were convicted during follow-up. Neither hospital treatment receipt of a clinic prescription nor imprisonment was associated with eventual abstinence. Poor outcome, in combined terms of continued addiction and re-conviction, related to early parental loss, poor academic achievement, conviction before drug use, longer imprisonment and a high conviction rate. Criminality emerges as the predominant and continuing expression of deviancy in these drug clinic patients.
The Treatment of Writer's Cramp with Multimodal Behaviour Therapy and Biofeedback: A Study of 15 Cases
Authors: Cottraux Jean A. , Juenet Christian , Collet Lionel
Published: August 2008

Of 15 patients with writer's cramp (4 females, 11 males, mean age 36, range 23–50, mean duration 3.6 years), 13 entered a behavioural treatment. Nine received a multimodal treatment, and four EMG feedback alone. Four patients dropped out during the treatment phase. Nine patients were considered as improved at a follow-up between 1 and 9 months. A stress-coping model is put forward to account for the therapeutic effectiveness, and to explain the drop-outs. Writer's cramp seems to be related to stressful situations at work. The existence of personality and biological factors remains to be demonstrated.
Sleep and its Interaction with Endocrine Rhythms
Authors: Mullen Paul E.
Published: August 2008

Rhythmic variations with frequences from fractions of seconds to years characterise a wide variety of biological processes (Aschoff, 1979). Biological rhythms can be observed, not only in the individual of the species, but also in the cells which comprise the organism and the populations of which it is a member. These regular fluctuations can be endogenously generated by some form of internal oscillator, or alternatively may passively reflect exogenous environmental alterations. An important group of rhythms combines both endogenous and exogenous inputs with an internal oscillator or oscillators which are capable of being influenced by some external change. In this situation, the internal rhythm is kept in harmony with an environmental cycle by a change in the outside world acting as a synchroniser or zeitgeber. In this type if the animal is artificially isolated from its normal external synchroniser, the rhythm will continue, but free running, with a periodicity which is a close approximation to the duration of the environmental cycle to which it is normally tied. These rhythms normally synchronised to an environmental cycle but capable of being self-sustaining at approximately the same rate, are termed circa rhythms: thus circadian, circannual and circalunar rhythms, according to the geophysical cycle by which they are normally entrained.
Factor Analysis and Validation of the General Health Questionnaire in Women: A General Practice Survey
Authors: Hobbs P. , Ballinger C. B. , Smith A. H. W.
Published: August 2008

As part of a survey of 1517 women aged 20–60 years, a factor analysis and validation study of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) was carried out. Although three clinically relevant factors could be isolated, their sensitivity was less than that of the total GHQ score, which was found to be a good measure of current psychiatric disturbance in this community sample.
Alpha-2 Adrenergic Receptor Sensitivity and the Mechanism of Action of Antidepressant Therapy
Authors: Charney Dennis S. , Heninger George R. , Sternberg David E.
Published: August 2008

It has been hypothesized that the mechanism of action of antidepressant treatments is related to their ability to decrease the sensitivity of the alpha-2 adrenergic autoreceptor. In order to assess alpha-adrenergic autoreceptor sensitivity, the effects of clonidine, the alpha-2 adrenergic receptor agonist, on plasma levels of the norepinephrine metabolite 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenethyleneglycol (MHPG), blood pressure (BP) and patient-rated sedation were measured in nine depressed patients before and during amitripytline treatment. Postsynaptic alpha-2 adrenergic receptor sensitivity was assessed by determining the growth hormone (GH) response to clonidine before and during treatment. Amitriptyline significantly attenuated the effects of clonidine on plasma MHPG, standing systolic BP, and sedation, indicating that alpha-2 adrenergic autoreceptors had become subsensitive. In addition, baseline plasma MHPG levels were significantly reduced. Amitriptyline had no effect on the GH response to clonidine.
The Effect of Unilateral Non-Dominant ECT on Memory and Perceptual Functions
Authors: McKenna Pat , Pratt R. T. C.
Published: August 2008

A range of memory and perceptual tests not previously used in the assessment of the effects of ECT has shown no impairment in 38 depressed patients after six unilateral (one dominant and five non-dominant) ECT.
Dopa Dose-Dependent Sexual Deviation
Authors: Quinn N. P. , Lang A. E. , Marsden C. D. , Parkes J. D. , Toone B.
Published: August 2008

Changes in sexual behaviour in patients with Parkinson's disease treated with levodopa are well recognized. Barbeau (1969) was the first to draw attention to “a clear-cut visually evident increase in libido” occurring in at least four out of 62 male parkinsonian patients treated with levodopa. Hyyppa et al (1970) reported that among 41 treated patients 10 experienced an increase of libido. De Ajuriaguerra et al (1972) reported that 29 out of 202 treated patients spontaneously told the authors of their satisfaction in respect of sexual behaviour. They commented “despite a few complaints from their spouses we do not believe there are any grounds to support the hypothesis of hypersexuality, but rather a more or less complete return to normal”. Similarly, Duvoisin and Yahr (1972) found that 8 per cent of a total of 283 patients reported an increase in sexual activity that “generally appeared to represent a partial return towards normalcy”. However, hypersexuality during levodopa therapy in parkinsonian patients was seen in senile dements, or as a feature of a more generalized disturbance, e.g. hypomanic behaviour. The subsequent experience of other authors (Bowers et al, 1971; Shapiro, 1973; Ballivet et al, 1973) has left no doubt that frankly hypersexual behaviour, albeit uncommon, may be provoked by levodopa treatment. Goodwin (1971) reviewed the literature on 908 patients and found an incidence of 0.9 per cent and Shapiro (1973) concurred, with an incidence in the region of 1 per cent of treated patients. Bowers et al (1971) reported 7 out of 19 patients on levodopa who indicated an activation of sexual behaviour on a combined scale of feeling and performance at some time during levodopa therapy. They divided the subjects into three groups: firstly patients who showed increased sexual drive apparently independent of motor improvement, secondly others whose sexual drive increased proportionately with their mobility, and thirdly those who developed hypersexual behaviour as part of an acute brain syndrome with an agitated and confused state.
Who's for Psychiatry?
Authors: Brook Peter
Published: August 2008

The medical schools of origin were identified in 1229 psychiatrists who qualified in the United Kingdom in the years 1961–75. The group was defined operationally as those who had entered for the preliminary test of the membership examination of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. From 1966–75 only 4 per cent of doctors opted for a career in the specialty. There are wide discrepancies between medical schools in the proportion of their graduates who enter psychiatry. The most likely reasons for this have to do with differences in student selection, the models of psychiatry put forward, the enthusiasm of teachers and the career pull from other specialties, notably general practice. A number of suggestions which might help to improve recruitment to psychiatry are put forward.
The Development of Sex Differences in Infantile Autism
Authors: Tsai Luke Y. , Beisler Jean M.
Published: August 2008

Seventy-five autistic children, 52 males and 23 females, were admitted to the Iowa Autism Programme over a 3-year period. An overall male-female ratio of 2.26:1 was found, but in the patients with IQs less than 50, the ratio was 1.31:1. When IQ and receptive language functioning were considered together, significantly more females than males showed a more deviant form of autism. Autistic females were more seriously affected than autistic males; and more autistic females than males had IQs of less than 50 and evidence of cerebral dysfunction. However, when autistic males and females were closely matched in chronological age and receptive language functioning, the males and females were equally impaired in cognitive and perceptual-motor abilities. The findings suggest that the overall greater degree of morbidity in autistic females was accounted for by a significantly greater proportion of autistic males affected with a mild form of autism, whereas a significantly greater proportion of autistic females were affected with a more deviant form of autism. The findings were linked to the hypothesis of differential genetic loading in males and females.
Hypercalcaemia in a Psychogeriatric Population
Authors: Harrison Glynn
Published: August 2008

Serum calcium concentration was estimated, via a multichannel analyser, in all patients admitted to a 25 bed psychogeriatric inpatient unit and associated day hospital. Case notes of 629 consecutive admissions over a 42 month period were studied, and the prevalence of hypercalcaemia found to be 0.7 per cent, close to that estimated for the general population. Cases of hypercalcaemia with psychiatric symptoms, undetected medically because of vague and non-specific physical symptoms, do not appear in excess in a psychogeriatric population.
Depression in Chronic Schizophrenia
Authors: Roy Alec , Thompson Ruth , Kennedy Sidney
Published: August 2008

Eighteen depressed chronic schizophrenic out-patients were matched with non-depressed schizophrenic out-patients. The depressed schizophrenics had had significantly more psychiatric admissions, past depression, past treatment for depression, significantly more had attempted suicide, lived alone, had low self-esteem, had early parental loss and had had more life events in the six months before the onset of depression. Depressive disorder in schizophrenic out-patients well controlled by neuroleptics may occur in those who are at risk for depression and experience an excess of life events.
L-Deprenil, A Selective Monoamine Oxidase Type B Inhibitor, in the Treatment of Depression: A Double Blind Evaluation
Authors: Mendlewicz J. , Youdim M. B. H.
Published: August 2008

In a double blind controlled study, 14 affectively ill patients (2 bipolars, 12 unipolars) were randomly allocated to L-Deprenil treatment (an irreversible selective MAO-B inhibitor without “cheese effect”) and 13 patients (3 bipolars, 10 unipolars) to placebo only. Patients on L-Deprenil showed a significantly greater clinical improvement than placebo patients. A positive relationship was found between clinical improvement and degree of platelet MAO inhibition in patients treated with L-Deprenil.
New Drugs for Mania?
Authors: von Zerssen Detlev , Emrich Hinderk M.
Published: August 2008

D. H. Myers et al (Journal, 1981, 139, 118–21) reported negative results of a double-blind investigation of propranolol (up to 1,920 mg per day for up to several months) as an adjunct to conventional neuroleptic treatment in 10 therapy-resistant chronic schizophrenics (compared with 10 control patients under placebo in addition to neuroleptic medication). They concluded with Gardos et al (1973) that the “failure to find propranolol effective in chronic schizophrenia does not cast doubt on its possible effectiveness in acute psychoses.” Our own experience of the short-term treatment of acute psychoses with propranolol and/or oxprenolol in high doses was unsuccessful in three schizophrenics and affected only the manic symptomatology in four out of six patients with schizoaffective psychoses (cf. von Zerssen, 1976; Table I). In two of these patients paranoid delusions even intensified during medication. In two separate drug trials there was a definite improvement in four out of six manic patients treated with propranolol (up to 2,300 mg/day). Therapeutic failures were restricted to incomplete trials (medication of less than 1 g/day or of less than one week's duration).
The Concept of Schizophrenia Kraepelin–Bleuler–Schneider
Authors: Hoenig J.
Published: August 2008

The concept of schizophrenia has changed since it was first introduced by Kraepelin. To overlook or misunderstand this evolution will lead to confusion with adverse effects on the clinic and on research. Kraepelin's exclusively somatic approach to the study of the illness gave rise to a variety of attempts to provide a wider theoretical framework which will accommodate a subjective psychological approach. The first of these attempts was that by Bleuler and Jung, but it brought with it new difficulties. Jaspers' methodology was applied to the study of schizophrenia by Schneider, and it creates the theoretical space which will accommodate both the objective and subjective study of the illness and its victim as a person. An attempt is made here to outline a brief history of these ideas.
Genetics of Platelet MAO Activity in Discordant Schizophrenic and Normal Twins
Authors: Reveley Michael A. , Reveley Adrianne M. , Clifford Christine A. , Murray Robin M.
Published: August 2008

Platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity was compared in four age and sex-matched groups: monozygotic (MZ) twins discordant for schizophrenia, normal MZ twins, normal dizygotic (DZ) twins and unrelated individuals. Among the twin groups, schizophrenic and normal, there was a remarkably consistent degree of genetic control amounting to 70–80 per cent of the variation in activity. The mean platelet MAO activity of the schizophrenic twins was significantly lower than that of controls, but not than that of their psychiatrically well, neuroleptic-free cotwins; indeed the correlation for the MZ twins discordant for schizophrenia was almost exactly the same as that for the normal MZs. Thus, lower platelet MAO activity in schizophrenia, where it is found, is genetically modulated and not the result of the illness or its treatment.
Recognition of Emotion from Facial Expression in Mental Handicap
Authors: Gray J. M. , Fraser W. L. , Leudar I.
Published: August 2008

When mildly and severely mentally retarded people saw photographs showing expressions of basic emotions their overall performance was found to be correlated with intelligence. Certain specific patterns of confusion were determined, clinically the most significant being an inability to cope with high intensity emotions.
Day Patient versus In-patient: Factors Determining Selection of Acutely Ill Patients for Hospital Treatment
Authors: Bowman E. Philbin , Shelley R. K. , Sheehy-Skeffington A. , Sinanan K.
Published: August 2008

In a prospective study the criteria and characteristics associated with the admission of acutely ill psychiatric patients to in-patient or day hospital care were examined. Over a four-month period, 54 patients were admitted to hospital and 43 to a day hospital. There were significantly more schizophrenics in the hospital. Day hospital patients were significantly younger, had shorter psychiatric histories, were considered less severely ill and had more insight into their illness. Hospital patients had poorer employment histories, and perceived their families as less supportive; admission had more often been requested by them or their families.
Further Observations of Evoked Potentials in Obsessional Patients
Authors: Beech H. R. , Ciesielski K. T. , Gordon P. K.
Published: August 2008

This study was designed to replicate and extend earlier findings. Evoked potentials (EP) were recorded, using a task of varying complexity involving shape discrimination, with matched groups of obsessional and normal subjects. Results confirmed previous findings that obsessional patients are characterised by reduced amplitudes and decreased latencies of late EP components; divergencies between the groups were more marked for tasks of increased complexity.
Brief Psychotherapy in Family Practice
Authors: Brodaty Henry , Andrews Gavin
Published: August 2008

In a prospective (controlled) trial, the result in 18 patients receiving eight, weekly half-hour sessions of brief problem-oriented dynamic psychotherapy was compared with the result in an equal number receiving eight weekly half-hour sessions of family practitioner therapy and in another 20 receiving no additional therapy. The subjects were drawn from patients at ten suburban family practices in Sydney. They had had psychological complaints for at least six months. No differences between the three treatment groups were found in the final outcome, either in a symptom severity and social dysfunction factor or in a physical disability and medication factor.
Samuel Pepys and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Authors: Daly R. J.
Published: August 2008

Samuel Pepys's diary allows us an opportunity to see how a man of acknowledged ability and stability coped with the severe psychological trauma of being involved in the Great Fire of London in 1666. His self-monitoring provides an excellent record of the development of post-traumatic stress disorder and an account of his coping behaviour. Despite being one of the newest categories of mental disorder in the official nomenclature, posttraumatic stress disorder has obviously had a long existence.
Feigned Psychosis—A Review of the Simulation of Mental Illness
Authors: Hay G. G.
Published: August 2008

The literature on the simulation of psychosis is reviewed and six patients who were thought to be feigning a schizophrenic psychosis were studied. On follow-up, all but one of the patients became overtly schizophrenic. It is argued that the simulation of schizophrenia is a prodromal phase of the psychosis occuring in extremely deviant premorbid personalities.
Clinical Characteristics of Akathisia
Authors: Braude Walter M. , Barnes Thomas R. E. , Gore Sheila M.
Published: August 2008

Assessment of drug-induced movement disorders was carried out regularly on 104 psychiatric patients requiring antipsychotic medication on admission to hospital. The data relevant to motor restlessness were subjected to a principal components' analysis. According to their component scores, patients were then classified into two main groups: an akathisia group and an illness-related-movement group, the former group showing the clinical and pharmacological characteristics expected of akathisia. Clinical features which distinguished between the two groups, and between grades of akathisia severity, were identified, so an objective, phenomenological description of the akathisia syndrome was possible. Our observations suggested two distinct types of acute akathisia; one related to severe parkinsonism and one not. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Propranolol in Schizophrenia: A Double Blind, Placebo Controlled Trial of Propranolol as an Adjunct to Neuroleptic Medication
Authors: Pugh C. R. , Steinert J. , Priest R. G.
Published: August 2008

A double blind, placebo controlled trial was carried out to examine the contribution of propranolol as an adjunct to neuroleptic medication in the treatment of chronic schizophrenic patients whose florid symptoms had not remitted with neuroleptic medication alone. Propranolol was shown to have a more beneficial effect than placebo, but the results were much less dramatic than those which have been described in previous studies. Recent work has shown that there may be a pharmacokinetic interaction between propranolol and neuroleptics, and this should be considered as one possible explanation of our findings.
Adult Psychiatric Disorder and Childhood Experiences
Authors: Wolkind Stephen , Coleman Eva Zajicek
Published: August 2008

In a sample of young mothers an association was found between a depressed mood and the recall of poor parental relationships during childhood. Women who had been depressed but had recovered by the time of questioning did not recall a poor relationship. A second retrospective measure of a childhood experience, based on more factual details, was unrelated to current mental state.
A Four-Year Follow-up of Hyperactive Boys with and without Conduct Disorder
Authors: August Gerald J. , Stewart Mark A. , Holmes Clarissa S.
Published: August 2008

A four-year follow-up of clinically selected hyperactive boys with and without associated conduct disorder investigated their outcome during early adolescence and was taken from a structured behavioural interview and standard psychological testing.

Boys originally diagnosed as “purely” hyperactive continued to be inattentive and impulsive at follow-up, but showed very few aggressive and antisocial behaviours. Hyperactive boys who had earlier been undersocialized and aggressive continued to have problems with attention and impulsivity, were reported to be aggressive, noncompliant, egocentric, exhibiting antisocial behaviours and using alcohol. These findings suggest that antisocial and delinquent behaviour often reported in follow-up studies of hyperactive boys may be linked to childhood aggression and unsocialized behaviour, rather than the syndrome of hyperactivity.