bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Schizophrenia and mental handicap: an historical review, with implications for further research
Authors: Turner T. H.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

The relationship between schizophrenia and ‘mental handicap’* has been obscured by historical changes and varying diagnostic criteria. It has been generally accepted that there is an increased incidence of psychotic illness among people with intellectual retardation, but detailed community surveys are limited. Catatonia, severity of illness and research potential are all to be found in this ‘dual diagnosis’ group. The value of an historical analysis is underlined.
Gender differences in schizophrenia: rehospitalization and community survival
Authors: Angermeyer Matthias C. , Goldstein Jill M. , Kuehn Ludwig
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

This study tested the hypothesis that schizophrenic men experience a poorer course than schizophrenic women. A representative sample from Hannover, FRG, including 278 first admission DSM-III schizophrenics, were followed for three years. Findings demonstrated that schizophrenic women experience fewer rehospitalizations, shorter lengths of stay, and survive longer in the community than schizophrenic men. Implications of the role of gender for schizophrenia are discussed.
Incidence and perception of psychosocial stress: the relationship with breast cancer
Authors: Cooper Cary L. , Cooper Rachel , Faragher E. Brian
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

This study explored the incidence and perception of psychosocial stress among 1596 patients attending breast screening clinics and 567 controls attending a well women clinic. It was found that some major life events (e.g. death of husband, death of close friend) were significantly related to breast disease and severity. The implications of the results are discussed.
Intelligence and musical improvisation
Authors: Hermelin B. , O'Connor N. , Lee S. , Treffert D.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

We investigated whether somebody with a severe mental impairment could not only remember and reproduce music, but was also able to generate it. Musical improvisation requires the ability to recognize constraints and also demands inventiveness.

Musical improvisations on a traditional, tonal and also on a whole tone scale composition were produced by a mentally handicapped and by a normal control musician. It was found that not only the control but also the handicapped subject could improvise appropriately within structural constraints, although with the tonal music the idiot-savant showed some stylistic latitude. It is concluded that cognitive processes such as musical input analysis, decision making, and output monitoring are independent of general intellectual status.
Validity of the Japanese version of the GHQ among antenatal clinic attendants
Authors: Kitamura T. , Sugawara M. , Aoki M. , Shima S.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

The validity of the Japanese version of the 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) was examined against the semi-structured interview-based Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) as external criteria. The GHQ total score discriminated ‘cases’ and ‘non-cases’ satisfactorily but its recommended cut-off point was higher (7/8) than that of the original English version (4/5). Discriminant function analysis revealed that only 13 items contributed to the discriminatory power and that their discriminant function score was better than a simple summation of the 30 GHQ item scores in terms of validity.
Family management in the prevention of morbidity of schizophrenia: social outcome of a two-year longitudinal study
Authors: Falloon Ian R. H. , McGill Christine W. , Boyd Jeffrey L. , Pederson Jean
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

Effective community treatment of schizophrenia involves not merely the removal of florid symptoms, but restoration of effective social role functioning. The efficacy of a family management approach is compared with an individual approach of similar intensity in terms of its impact on the patient's social adjustment after a florid episode of schizophrenia. Clinical reports, patient self-reports, and interviews with the family members of 36 patients, who were randomly assigned to family or individual management, demonstrated a consistent superiority for family management. The advantages for the family approach were sustained over a two-year period. The potential mechanisms through which the family approach may have achieved its greater efficacy are discussed from a multi-determined perspective.
Which boys respond to stimulant medication? A controlled trial of methylphenidate in boys with disruptive behaviour
Authors: Taylor E. , Schachar R. , Thorley G. , Wieselberg H. M. , Everitt B. , Rutter M.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

Thirty-eight boys, referred for psychiatric treatment because of serious problems of behaviour, underwent a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of methylphenidate and placebo. Methylphenidate was an effective treatment over a 3-week period. A good response to methylphenidate was predicted by higher levels of inattentive and restless behaviour, impaired performance on tests of attention, clumsiness, younger age and by the absence of symptoms of overt emotional disorder. DSM-III and ICD-9 diagnoses of ‘hyperactivity’ were not good predictors. The results support the validity of a construct of hyperactivity in describing childhood psychopathology, but emphasize the need for a refinement of diagnostic criteria.
Information processing in depression and anxiety
Authors: Brand Nico , Jolles Jellemer
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

The memory scanning performance of both unipolar and bipolar depressives and patients with anxiety states was compared with that of control subjects. Four versions of Sternberg's memory comparison task were used. Unipolar depressives showed impaired memory scanning in 3 of the tasks compared with controls, and in one task compared with patients with anxiety states. They were also slower than the other patients and controls in the non-scanning processing stages. They seemed to adopt a less efficient search strategy, and showed more controlled processing as opposed to automatic detection in a paper-and-pencil version of the task.
Neuroticism in familial depression
Authors: Katz Randy , McGuffin Peter
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

This study examined the relationship between personality factors and depression in subjects who may have a familial vulnerability to depression (i.e. first-degree relatives of depressed patients). Four groups comprised our study sample: relatives who had never experienced a psychiatric episode of depression; relatives who had experienced a psychiatric episode of depression but were currently well; relatives who had never experienced a psychiatric episode of depression but were currently depressed; and relatives who had experienced a past history of depression and were currently depressed. Of the four personality characteristics measured (Psychoticism, Extraversion, Neuroticism and Lie), the only significant effects between groups appeared to be attributable to Neuroticism (N).

The strongest association was between current illness and N. There was also a tendency for subjects with a past history of depression to have an inflated N score. However, this appeared to be associated with the presence of current depressive symptomatology. Our findings indicate that when current symptomatology is taken into account Neuroticism does not seem to reflect the trait of liability to depression, but is strongly associated with the state of being depressed.
Loss of parent in childhood and adult psychiatric disorder: the role of social class position and premarital pregnancy
Authors: Harris Tirril , Brown George W. , Bifulco Antonia
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

This paper addresses the critique which maintains that loss of parent in a sample of female adults plays no role in determining current depression over and above that of low social class position with which such loss is associated. It examines a series of variables which combine to determine current social class position and which seem to stem from lack of adequate replacement care following loss of mother. The experience of a premarital pregnancy and the way in which women cope with it emerge as critical in this process. The relationship of low social class to the onset of depression is discussed in the light of better-known vulnerability factors such as low confiding in, and undependability of, marital partner, employment outside the home and number of children. It is concluded that a current low social class position, far from explaining away the association between loss of mother and current depression, may itself be brought about by a chain of circumstances stemming from the loss. Once again, the quality of replacement care is shown to play a critical role.
Depressive symptomatology and treatment in patients with end-stage renal disease
Authors: Hong Barry A. , Smith Marc D. , Robson Alan M. , Wetzel Richard D.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

A sample of 60 patients selected at random from an adult population of 419 patients with end-stage renal disease was assessed for major depression. Diagnoses were based on a structured interview using DSM-III criteria. Eighteen patients (30%) met criteria for a major depression on a lifetime basis. In addition, depressive symptoms and treatment for each depressed patient are reported.
Life stress and psychosomatic symptoms among 14 to 16-year old Finnish adolescents
Authors: Aro Hillevi
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

School children (N = 2013) completed questionnaires in class on three occasions over a period of 17 months. Life stress data for 12 months were gathered retrospectively in the last questionnaire. Life events and interpersonal problems were associated with psychosomatic symptoms. In terms of change in symptoms, the impact of life events and interpersonal problems was demonstrated in boys but not in girls. Though boys with a history of no events or problems had lower symptom scores than girls, boys with a history of many events or problems caught up with the girls by the end of the follow-up period. On the other hand, symptom differences related to life stress scores were already apparent at the beginning of the study, and these differences were greater in girls than in boys.
Sex biases in mental health scales: do women tend to report less serious symptoms and confide more than men?
Authors: Tousignant Michel , Brosseau Roger , Tremblay Lucien
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

Women report more symptoms than men in mental health surveys. The evidence shows that psychometric biases cannot explain this significant difference. This study attempts to explore other factors that could bias the results – for example, that women are likely to report less serious symptoms than men or are less apprehensive in reporting symptoms because they have a higher tendency to report symptoms than men. A random sample of 213 women and 222 men, all married and between the age of 25 and 40, were interviewed at home in two districts of Montreal (Canada) and given the Health Opinion Survey (HOS). As has been usually found, women scored higher than men on the HOS. A variety of scales assessed the seriousness of the symptoms and the results did not indicate any sex difference in this regard. Moreover, there was no correlation between the mental health and the Jourard Self-Confidence Scale. Finally, women did not confide more about their symptoms than men, contrary to the prevalent opinion according to which they are more likely to do so. Sex differences on mental health scales do not, therefore, appear to be related to the type of bias assessed in this survey.
Old wine in new bottles: neurasthenia and ‘ME’
Authors: Wessely Simon
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

The history of neurasthenia is discussed in the light of current interest in chronic fatigue, and in particular the illness called myalgic encephalomyelitis (‘ ME ’). A comparison is made of the symptoms, presumed aetiologies and treatment of both illnesses, as well as their social setting. It is shown that neurasthenia remained popular as long as it was viewed as a non-psychiatric, neurological illness caused by environmental factors which affected successful people and for which the cure was rest. The decline in neurasthenia was related to the changes which occurred in each of these views. It is argued that similar factors are associated with the current interest in myalgic encephalomyelitis. It is further argued that neither neurasthenia nor ‘ ME ’ can be fully understood within a single medical or psychiatric model. Instead both have arisen in the context of contemporary explanations and attitudes involving mental illness. Future understanding, treatment and prevention of these and related illnesses will depend upon both psychosocial and neurobiological explanations of physical and mental fatigability.
Cortical and diencephalic lesions in Korsakoff's syndrome: a clinical and scan study
Authors: Jacobson R. R. , Lishman W. A.
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

Twenty-five male alcoholic Korsakoff patients were compared with age and sex-matched non-Korsakoff chronic alcoholics and healthy volunteers on clinical and CT brain scan parameters. The scans were assessed by planimetry, visual grading procedures and computerized analysis. Reliable measures of third ventricular size were developed.

The Korsakoff patients had wider third ventricles, larger lateral ventricles and wider interhemispheric fissures than the comparison groups; but sulcal and Sylvian fissure widths were equivalent in Korsakoff and non-Korsakoff alcoholics.

The results suggest that, in addition to their well-established diencephalic lesions, many Korsakoff patients have sustained widespread cerebral damage. Shrinkage in the frontal brain regions appears to be especially pronounced. The implications for a dual aetiology of alcoholic Korsakoff's syndrome involving thiamine deficiency and features associated with alcoholism, probably direct alcohol neurotoxicity, are discussed.
The recollection of affect
Authors: Schrader Geoffrey , Davis Anthony , Stefanovic Snezana , Christie Paul
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

A group of psychiatric in-patients significantly over-estimated the intensity of their depression when asked to recollect how depressed they had been one week earlier. The initial level of depression affected the accuracy of recall. Unexpectedly, patients who were more depressed initially had more accurate recall, particularly for biological and symptomatically negative items of the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale.
The efficiency of two-phase designs in prevalence surverys of mental disorders
Authors: Newman Stephen C. , Shrout Patrick E. , Bland Roger C.
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

A two-phase survey of mental disorders uses a screening test to identify possible cases, thereby reducing the resources devoted to interviewing those not having the condition of interest. It is demonstrated using a mathematical model that in situations likely to be encountered in practice a two-phase design may lead to an increase in the efficiency of prevalence rate estimation, and also to an improvement in the efficiency of case detection. However, in certain applications the modest gain in efficiency may not warrant the additional complexity of a two-phase approach to data collection. Data from a survey of mental disorders in Edmonton, Canada, which collected informations on 3258 community residents using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule and the General Health Questionnaire, are used to demonstrate how two-phase methods would have changed the efficiency of an actual survey.
‘The problem of validity in field studies of psychological disorders’revisited
Authors: Dohrenwend Bruce P.
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

Since the turn of the century and up to about 1980, there have been two generations of epidemiological studies of the true prevalence of psychiatric disorders: a pre-World War II first generation and a post-World War II second generation. With the appearance of DSM-III in 1980 and the changes in epidemiological proceducres coincident with it, it has become meaningful in the US to talk about the beginnings of a new, third generation or studies in psychiatric epidemiology. The purposes of this paper are: first, to briefly summarize the problems of validity with the procedures for case identification and diagnosis in the first-and second-generation studies; second, to consider some of the newer developments with regard to diagnostic instruments that either are or should be influencing third-generation studies; third, to discuss some of the problems of validity in the handful of third-generation studies done so far; and fourth, to describe and illustrate an approach that seems to make sense in the context of gaps in knowledge of aetiology and pathogenesis that leave us still dependent on interviews for case identification and classification.
A standardized assessment of patients referred to primary care and hospital psychiatric clinics
Authors: Strathdee G. , King M. B. , Araya R. , Lewis S.
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

General practice based psychiatric clinics have increased in number in recent years. Case-note and case-register data examining the nature of the psychiatric disorder of the patients seen in this setting have shown contradictory findings. In this study comparison of 113 patients referred to primary care and hospital out-patient clinics is made using standardized clinical and social measures. Our results show that both groups had similar degrees of physical and social dysfunction and comparable levels of psychiatric morbidity. However, in the primary care population there were more women, and schizophreniform psychoses predominated. In the hospital sample affective illnesses and personality disorders were more common. The majority of patients preferred to consult in the primary care setting.
The role of imagination in the disease process: pre-Cartesian history (the role of imagination in the disease process)
Authors: McMahon C. E.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

Ancient and Renaissance physicians implicated the soul's imaginative faculty in the genesis and remission of disease. The theory stated that images of objects of desire or aversion aroused emotions, which in turn set up humoral imbalances, disturbing digestion and other vital functions, culminating in various forms of pathology. This concept explained the therapeutic efficacy of ‘placebos’ in forms such as spells, charms and talismans. The theory merits close attention by contemporary physicians and researchers.
The coincidence of schizophrenia and Parkinsonism: some neurochemical implications
Authors: Crow T. J. , Johnstone Eve C. , McClelland H. A.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

The hypothesis has recently been advanced that increased activity of central dopaminergic mechanisms underlies the symptomatology of the schizophrenias. The evidence that dopaminergic transmission in the corpus striatum is impaired in Parkinson's disease suggests that observations on the relationship between Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia may illuminate the pathophysiology of the latter disease. Four cases are reported in which an illness with schizophrenic features developed in the setting of longstanding Parkinson's disease; attention is drawn to earlier reports of schizophrenic illnesses occurring as.postencephalitic sequelae in the presence of a parkinsonian syndrome. These observations appear to conflict with the view that increased dopamine release in the striatum is necessary for the expression of schizophrenic psychopathology, but do not exclude the possibility that increased transmission may occur at other dopaminergic sites in the brain, for example the nucleus accumbens, tuberculum olfactorium or cerebral cortex. Similarly the dopamine receptor blockade hypothesis of the therapeutic effects of neuroleptic drugs cannot be maintained with respect to an action in the striatum in view of the differences between the actions of thioridazine and chlorpromazine in this structure, but may be tenable for actions at extra-striatal sites.
N1-methylnicotinamide excretion and affective disorders
Authors: Cazzullo C. L. , Sacchetti E. , Smeraldi E.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

N1-Methylnicotinamide urinary output is examined in 38 healthy volunteers, 52 patients with secondary affective disorders (SAD), 55 patients with primary affective disorders (PAD) and 46 healthy first-degree relatives of PAD patients. The results indicate (1) that in PAD patients and their first-degree relatives the frequency of low Nl-MN excretion was significantly higher (p < 0001) than in healthy controls and in patients with secondary affective disorders, and (2) that PAD patients have a consistently low N1-MN output, at all times constant and independent of the clinical phases of the disease. These findings provide evidence that the low N1-MN levels may represent an index of a biological background linked to a high morbidity risk for primary affective disorders. The theoretical implications deriving from these data are briefly discussed.
Amino acid precursors of monoamine neurotransmitters and some factors influencing their supply to the brain
Authors: Daniel P. M. , Moorhouse S. R. , Pratt O. E.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

There is evidence that changes in the concentrations of the monoamine neurotransmitters within the brain are associated with changes in mental processes, with disorders of control of movement and with certain neuropsychiatric diseases. These neurotransmitters are synthesized in the brain from aromatic amino acid precursors that have to be obtained from the circulating blood. In this study some factors which alter the rates of entry of four amino acids (the important neurotransmitter precursors L-tyrosine and L-tryptophan, as well as L-phenylalanine and L-histidine) into the brain have been studied and the findings considered in relation to conditions in which the quantities of one or more of the monoamine neurotransmitters formed within the cerebral cells may be either too large or too small. Thus too little neurotransmitter will be formed if competition between amino acids for the carriers transporting them into the cerebral cells causes the exclusion of a large proportion of any of the aromatic amino acid precursors from the brain. For example, L-tryptophan is partially excluded from the brain if a raised level of any one of several other amino acids is maintained in the circulation. Of these, L-phenylalanine inhibits the transport of L-tryptophan into the brain most effectively, while aromatic amino acids in general exclude L-tryptophan more effectively than do other neutral amino acids.

Over-production of one or more of the monoamine neurotransmitters is likely to occur when there is too much of one of the aromatic amino acid precursors in the brain cells as a result of abnormally high uptake from the blood, or as a result of their release by an excessive breakdown of the protein within these cells. Underproduction of neurotransmitters may occur in certain disease states, such as some aminoacidurias or Parkinsonism. We have listed some conditions associated with altered mental states or motor disability in which over- or under-production of monoamine neurotransmitters may occur and have tried to relate the findings in human disease with our experimental results.
The influence of childbirth on psychiatric morbidity
Authors: Kendell R. E. , Wainwright S. , Hailey A. , Shannon B.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

The Camberwell Psychiatric Register was searched for contacts by the 2257 women resident in the register catchment area who were known to have had a child in 1970. Of these, 99 women (and 39 of their husbands) were found to have had a ‘new episode’ of psychiatric illness in the two years before or the two years after the birth of their child. The distribution of these ‘new episodes’ relative to the time of childbirth was then studied. In the women, both functional psychoses and depressive illnesses showed a sharp rise in the new episode rate in the three months immediately after delivery. There was also a suggestion of a secondary rise, less dramatic but more sustained, from the 10th to the 24th month after delivery. There was no comparable rise in the husbands. Women whose children were illegitimate had high new episode rates throughout the four-year study period, but not particularly so in the puerperium itself.
The concept of a ‘case’ in psychiatric population surveys
Authors: Wing J. K. , Mann S. A. , Leff J. P. , Nixon J. M.
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

A series of in-patients, a series of out-patients and a series of women from a general population sample, all aged under 65, and all living in the same area of south-east London, were examined using the ninth edition of the Present State Examination (PSE). An ‘index of definition’ (ID), based on number, type and severity of PSE symptoms, was constructed in order to define a threshold point above which sufficient information was available to allow classification into one of the functional psychoses or neuroses. The index specified 8 levels of definition of disorder; the threshold point for a ‘case’ lying between levels 4 and 5. The identification of ‘cases’ by this means in the general population series was highly concordant with global clinical judgement.

When the 3 series were compared, the in-patient series contained the most definite cases, the out-patient series was intermediate, and the general population series was characterized mainly by below-threshold conditions.

Disorders above the threshold point were classified using the CATEGO program. The clinical severity of the depressive disorders and anxiety states identified in this way in the 3 series was compared on the basis of symptom and syndrome profiles and PSE scores. As expected, the inpatients had the most severe, and the general population ‘cases’ the least severe disorders.

It is suggested that the PSE-ID-CATEGO techniques can be used to help standardize certain aspects of case-finding and case-description in both referred and non-referred populations and thereby make the results of surveys more comparable.
The social outcome of patients in a trial of long-term continuation therapy in schizophrenia: pimozide vs. fluphenazine
Authors: Falloon I. , Watt D. C. , Shepherd M.
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

A blind social assessment at home was carried out twice during a year's follow-up of 41 patients on continuation therapy, 21 randomly allocated to pimozide tablets and 20 to fluphenazine decanoate injections. Patients on pimozide were significantly more favourably rated on aspects of sociability, use of leisure, warmth of personal relationships, household tasks and child-rearing. The mode of production of this result is discussed.
Estimation of body dimensions in anorexia nervosa
Authors: Pierloot R. A. , Houben M. E.
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

The estimation of body dimensions in a group of 31 patients with anorexia nervosa and a control group of 20 psychoneurotic females has been studied with different techniques, including a visual size estimation apparatus and the marking of indicated body points on a paper attached to the wall. The results confirm the previously described tendency by patients with anorexia nervosa to overestimate body size in the stage before their treatment in hospital. Various differences between the two groups were found and the anorexic patients were more inconsistent in the estimation of the different body measures. On the basis of correlations with the results of an internal-external control questionnaire, it is suggested that overestimation and variability in visual size estimation could be promoted by an orientation towards external control.
Disappearance of chlorpromazine from plasma following drug withdrawal
Authors: Phillipson Oliver , Baker Janet , Sebastianpillai Frank , Sheppard Graham , Brook Peter
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

Plasma chlorpromazine measured by a gas chromatographic procedure was found to disappear rapidly during the first week after withdrawal of chlorpromazine treatment in a group of 17 chronically hospitalized patients. The drug or its metabolites were no longer measurable in plasma after 8 days.
Personality as a risk factor in large bowel cancer: data from the Melbourne Colorectal Cancer Study
Authors: Kune Gabriel A. , Kune Susan , Watson Lyndsey F. , Bahnson Claus Bahne
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

In a case control study which formed one arm of a large, population-based investigation of colorectal cancer incidence, aetiology and survival, ‘The Melbourne Colorectal Cancer Study’, among others, 22 psychosocially orientated questions were asked by personal interview of 637 histologically confirmed new cases of colorectal cancer and 714 age/sex frequency matched community controls, from Melbourne (population 2·81 million). Self-reported childhood or adult life ‘unhappiness’ was statistically significantly more common among the cancer cases, while ‘unhappiness with retirement’ was similarly distributed among cases and controls. Questions which were formulated to test a particular personality profile as a cancer risk, and which included the elements of denial and repression of anger and of other negative emotions, a commitment to prevailing social norms resulting in the external appearance of a ‘nice’ or ‘good’ person, a suppression of reactions which may offend others and the avoidance of conflict, showed a statistically significant discrimination between cases and controls. The risk of colorectal cancer with respect to this model was independent of the previously found risk factors of diet, beer intake, and family history of colorectal cancer, and was also independent of other potential confounding factors of socioeconomic level, marital status, religion and country of birth. Although the results must be interpreted with caution, the data are consistent with the hypothesis that this personality type may play a role in the clinical expression of colorectal cancer and was also independent of other potential confounding factors of socioeconomic level, marital status, religion and country of birth. Although the results must be interpreted with caution, the data are consistent with the hypothesis that this personality type may play a role in the clinical expression of colorectal cancer and merits further study.
Cognitive abnormalities in multiple sclerosis: a psychometric and MRI study
Authors: Ron M. A. , Callanan M. M. , Warrington E. K.
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

This study reports the cognitive abnormalities of a group of 58 patients with definite multiple sclerosis (MS). The psychometric functions measured were: ‘IQ deficit’, verbal and visual memory, abstracting ability, visual and auditory attention and naming ability. The presence of brain pathology was investigated using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A group of 46 physically disabled controls without significant brain disease was used for comparison. Normative MRI data were obtained from a groulp of 40 normal volunteers. The psychometric performance of the MS group was compared to the previously reported findings in patients with clinically isolated syndromes.

MS patients had widespread cognitive deficits sparing naming ability and affecting verbal memory less severely than other intellectual functions. The overall performance on psychometric tests was related to the severity of the MRI abnormalities and to the duration of the illness, but was not significantly influenced by the presence of psychiatric morbidity or the degree of physical disability. Patients with clinically isolated syndromes occupied an intermediate position between MS patients and disabled controls in terms cognitive and MRI abnormalities.
Separation of DSM-III attention deficit disorder and conduct disorder: evidence from a family-genetic study of American child psychiatric patients
Authors: Faraone Stephen V. , Biederman Joseph , Keenan Kate , Tsuang Ming T.
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

Using family study methodology and assessments by blind raters, this study tested hypotheses about patterns of familial association between DSM-III attention deficit disorder (ADD) and antisocial disorders (childhood conduct (CD) and oppositional disorder (OPD) and adult antisocial personality disorder) among 457 first-degree relatives of clinically referred children and adolescents with ADD (73 probands, 264 relatives), psychiatric (26 probands, 101 relatives) and normal controls (26 probands, 92 relatives). Among the 73 ADD probands, 33 (45 %) met criteria for OPD, 24 (33 %) met criteria for CD, and 16 (22 %) had no antisocial diagnosis. After stratifying the ADD sample into those with CD (ADD + CD), those with OPD (ADD + OPD) and those with neither (ADD) familial risk analysis revealed the following: (1) relatives of each ADD probands subgroup were at significantly greater risk for ADD than relatives of both psychiatric and normal controls; (2) the morbidity risk for ADD was highest among relatives of ADD + CD probands (38%), moderate among relatives of ADD + OPD (17%) and ADD probands (24%) and lowest among relatives of psychiatric and normal controls (5% for both); (3) the risk for any antisocial disorder was highest among relatives of ADD + CD (34%) and ADD + OPD (24%) which were significantly greater than the risk to relatives of ADD probands (11 %), psychiatric (7%) and normal controls (4%); and (4) both ADD and antisocial disorders occurred in the same relatives more often than expected by chance alone. Although these findings suggest that ADD with and without antisocial disorders may be aetiologically distinct disorders, they are also consistent with a multifactorial hypothesis in which ADD, ADD + OPD and ADD + CD fall along a continuum of increasing levels of familial aetiological factors and, correspondingly, severity of illness.
Social factors and minor psychiatric disorder in middle-aged men: a validation study and a population survey
Authors: Stansfeld S. A. , Gallacher J. E. J. , Sharp D. S. , Yarnell J. W. G.
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

A cross-sectional survey of minor psychiatric disorder is reported in a representative community sample of 2204 men between the ages of 45 years and 64 years living in Caerphilly, South Wales. Minor psychiatric disorder was measured by the 30-item General Health Questionnaire and validated by the Clinical Interview Schedule in a consecutive sample of 97 men, weighted to provide one-third cases, two-thirds non-cases. A case threshold of 4/5 on the General Health Questionnaire was chosen on the basis of ‘ROC’ analysis. An overall estimated ‘true’ prevalence rate for minor psychiatric disorder of 22·0% was found, with 22·3% of men scoring 5 or more on the General Health Questionnaire. Rates of minor psychiatric disorder were higher in widowed and divorced men than in married men but were also, unexpectedly, lower in single as opposed to married men. There was no social-class gradient in minor psychiatric morbidity but a lower rate in Social Class III NM may be largely explained by lower unemployment rates. There were markedly higher rates of minor psychiatric morbidity in unemployed men and those who retired ill. Men with no available social contacts had higher rates of morbidity than men with some or high social contacts.
Factors influencing compulsory admission of psychiatric patients
Authors: Riecher Anita , Rössler Wulf , Löffler Walter , Fätkenheuer Brigitte
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

From 1 January 1984 until 30 June 1986 all 517 compulsorily admitted psychiatric patients of a well-defined mixed rural–urban catchment area in Baden-Württemberg, a southern State of the German Federal Republic, were compared with all 10232 voluntarily admitted patients. Because of the very low frequency of compulsory admissions this population can be regarded as a ‘core group’ of committed patients. In a logit analysis the characteristics distinguishing involuntary from voluntary patients can be reduced to three main factors: the diagnosis ‘schizophrenia/ paranoid disorder’, ‘masculine gender’ and the compound indicator ‘not owning a home’, the latter being mainly associated with youth, masculine gender and low occupational status. The strong association of these characteristics with the criteria ‘severity of disease’ and ‘danger to oneself and others’, both pre-requisites for compulsory admission according to the laws of most countries, is discussed.
SIDAM – A Structured Interview for the diagnosis of Dementia of the Alzheimer type, Multi-infarct dementia and dementias of other aetiology according to ICD-10 and DSM-III-R
Authors: Zaudig M. , Mittelhammer J. , Hiller W. , Pauls A. , Thora C. , Morinigo A. , Mombour W.
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

The SIDAM – a new instrument for the symptomatic diagnosis and measurement of dementia according to DSM-III-R and ICD-10 – is described. It comprises a brief structured clinical interview, a range of cognitive tests (e.g. including the Mini-Mental State (Folstein et al. 1975)) which constitute a short neuropsychological battery and a section for clinical judgement and third party information. All items rely on DSM-III-R and ICD-10 algorithms. The SIDAM has a high overall test–retest reliability which equally holds true on the diagnostic, criterion and item level. It is a brief (average of 28 min), practical and easily scored diagnostic instrument, which reliably separates subjects with DSM-III-R and ICD-10 dementia from those without such a disorder. Good congruence was found between SIDAM diagnoses and corresponding ICD-9 expert diagnoses. Furthermore, the SIDAM-Score (SISCO) allows a detailed measurement of even low levels of cognitive impairment and provides quantification of severity grading of cognitive dysfunction.
The Endstage Renal Disease Severity Index (ESRD-SI)
Authors: Craven J. , Littlefield C. , Rodin G. , Murray M.
Published: July 2009

SYNOPSIS

Measures of disease severity are required as experimental, control and outcome variables in studies of the psychosocial aspects of physical illness. The Endstage Renal Disease Severity Index (ESRD-SI) was developed for these purposes during a prospective study of patient adjustment to dialysis and endstage renal disease (ESRD). It was found to have adequate inter-rater reliability, test–retest reliability, and construct and predictive validity in two subsamples (total N = 233) of dialysis patients. The ESRD-SI is suitable as a sensitive indicator of disease severity in these patients.
Sin and mental illness in the Middle Ages
Authors: Kroll Jerome , Bachrach Bernard
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

The modern stereotype that in the Middle Ages there was a general belief that mental illness was caused by sin is reviewed. The authors examined 57 descriptions of mental illness (madness, possession, alcoholism, epilepsy, and combinations thereof) from pre-Crusade chronicles and saints' lives. In only 9 (16%) of these descriptions did the sources attribute the mental illness to sin or wrongdoing, and in these cases the medieval authors appeared to use this attribution for its propaganda value against an enemy of their patron saints, their monastery lands, or their religious values. The medieval sources indicate that the authors were well aware of the proximate causes of mental illness, such as humoral imbalance, intemperate diet and alcohol intake, overwork, and grief. The banality that, since God causes all things he also causes mental illness, was only used by medieval authors under special circumstances and in a minority of cases. It does not constitute evidence of superstitious and primitive notions about mental illness in the early Middle Ages.
The diagnostic status of patients with conspicuous psychiatric morbidity in primary care
Authors: Casey Patricia R. , Dillon S. , Tyrer P. J.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

A 7% one-year prevalence rate of conspicuous psychiatric morbidity was found in patients attending a single general practice. The nature of the morbidity was examined by a detailed assessment of mental state and personality, using interview schedules administered by a psychiatrist. Depressive disorders were presented by nearly half of the patients. The overall sex incidence of the disorders was equal, but alcohol abuse was more common in males. A personality disorder was present in 33·9% of all patients seen, although it was rarely diagnosed as the primary problem and was linked to the diagnosis of anxiety states, rather than depressive neurosis. These findings are discussed in relation to other epidemiological studies in primary care.
Cost–benefit analysis of a controlled trial of nurse therapy for neuroses in primary care
Authors: Ginsberg Gary , Marks Isaac , Waters Helena
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

In a randomized, controlled trial neurotic patients (mainly phobics and obsessive-compulsives) in primary care were assigned to behavioural psychotherapy from a nurse therapist or to routine care from their general practitioner. At the end of one year clinical outcome was significantly better in patients cared for by the nurse therapist. Economic outcome to one year, compared with the year before entering the trial, showed a slight decrease in the use of resources by the nurse therapist group (N = 22), and an increase in resource usage in the GP-treated group (N = 28), mainly due to the letter's increased absence from work and more hospital treatment and drugs. On the reasonable assumptions that nurse therapists treat 46 patients a year and that such patients treated behaviourally maintain their gains for 2 years, the economic benefits to society from nurse therapists treating such patients may outweigh the costs. This excludes any monetary value on the substantial clinical gains such as reduction in fear and anxiety. However, the numbers are small, few economic differences were significant, and many patients either did not complete the trial or waiting-list periods or they failed to return economic data. Conclusions must thus be tempered with caution, even though pre-treatment demographic and clinical data of non-returners were comparable with those of returners, and though the few drop-outs who could be rated at one year had not improved. The findings cannot be extrapolated to other types of clinical problem and treatment.
Affective disorder and substance abuse in women with bulimia
Authors: Hatsukami Dorothy , Eckert Elke , Mitchell James E. , Pyle Richard
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

One hundred and eight women with bulimia were evaluated for affective disorder and alcohol or drug abuse, by means of the DSM-III diagnostic criteria. In this sample, 43·5% had a history of affective disorder and 18·5% had a history of alcohol or drug abuse. Approximately 56% of the bulimia patients scored within the moderate to severe range of depression on the Beck Depression Inventory.
The effects of administering lithium carbonate on the balance of Na, K and water in manic-depressive patients
Authors: Saran Brij M. , Russell Gerald F. M.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

Eleven patients in remission from manic-depressive illness were studied by means of metabolic balances before and after the administration of lithium carbonate. Lithium caused a sharp diuresis of isotonic saline and a smaller excretion of potassium over the course of two days. During the subsequent two days there occurred a compensatory retention of Na, K and water. These short-term changes were not associated with any significant alteration in the patients' mood. There was no significant and systematic retention of Na, K or water over the 14 days of Li administration. The recovery of Li was measured simultaneously. During the first week only a proportion of the administered Li was recovered in the urine and faeces, suggesting that a gradual distribution of Li throughout its body space was occurring. After the first week, nearly all the administered Li was recovered, indicating an equilibrium with an even distribution of the ion throughout its body space. This equilibrium was more complete at this early stage in those patients who had been given a smaller dose of lithium carbonate.
Ecological variation of three types of suicide
Authors: Bagley Christopher , Jacobson Solomon
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

The hypothesis has been tested that three types of suicide (‘old and handicapped’, ‘sociopathic’ and ‘depressed’) will vary in prevalence across ecologically defined urban areas. The hypothesis is supported with respect to ‘old and handicapped’ suicide, which predominates in middleclass areas with established residents of middle-class status; and with respect to ‘sociopathic’ suicide, which predominates in central areas with high rates of social pathology of all kinds, and poor housing conditions.
Obsessional scores and subjective general psychiatric complaints of patients with duodenal ulcer or ulcerative colitis
Authors: Bellini Maurizio , Tansella Michele
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

The Leyton Obsessional Inventory (LOI), together with 46 questions taken from Sections M–R of the Cornell Medical Index, were administered to 30 inpatients suffering from duodenal ulcer and to 30 patients admitted for ulcerative colitis to test the hypothesis that the latter have more obsessional traits than the former. The results indicated that although the two groups did not differ much in their obsessive personality traits, the ulcerative colitis patients were significantly more worried and concerned about them. None of the socio-cultural factors measured, which are known from other studies to influence these obsessive scores, was associated with the differences found. An analysis of the individual LOI items between the two groups showed that the ulcerative colitis patients were more indecisive, and also more morose, more rigid and more punctual than the duodenal ulcer patients, i.e. traits traditionally associated with obsessional personality types. The two groups did not differ on the Cornell score.
Life events, depressive relapse and maintenance treatment
Authors: Paykel E. S. , Tanner J.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

Occurrence of life events was recorded in 30 recovered depressed women undergoing clinical relapse in a controlled trial of maintenance treatment with amitriptyline and psychotherapy, and in 30 matched patients who did not relapse. Overall, patients who relapsed experienced significantly more life events in the three months before relapse, and especially in the month immediately preceding it. Undesirable events were particularly implicated. Event rates prior to relapse were closely comparable in treatment subgroups, giving no evidence that differential stress was required to produce relapse. The findings reinforce previous studies indicating an overall relationship between life events of certain types and depression, but do not suggest that the beneficial effects of maintenance treatment are specifically protective against life stress.
The value of assessing intent in attempted suicide
Authors: Pallis D. J. , Sainsbury P.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

Suicidal intent was assessed in a sample of 151 admissions to a general hospital for selfpoisoning or self-inflicted injury. Severity of intent was associated with the act's medical seriousness and with the risk of suicide derived from a validated risk scale. Although high and low intent cases were comparable in respect of precipitating factors, patients rated high on suicidal intent were more likely to have experienced depressive symptoms in the previous month.
Definitions of schizophrenia: concordance and prediction of outcome
Authors: Brockington I. F. , Kendell R. E. , Leff J. P.
Published: July 2009

Synopsis

The study reports a comparison of 10 definitions of schizophrenia (Feighner's, Taylor's, Schneider's, Langfeldt's, Spitzer's, Carpenter's, Astrachan's, 2 from Forrest & Hay and Catego) in respect of their reliability, concordance and prediction of outcome. Some (including Feighner's) proved too strict, and others (including Schneider's) were weak predictors of clinical and social state. Four definitions (Spitzer's, Langfeldt's, Carpenter's and Catego) emerged as relatively effective and these also had a somewhat more satisfactory mutual concordance.