Showing papers on "Depression (differential diagnoses) published in 1972"

The depression of widowhood.

Abstract: A group of 109 randomly selected widows and widowers, average age 61, were evaluated one month after the deaths of their spouses. Thirty-five per cent of them had a collection of depressive symptoms similar to those common in psychiatric depressed patients. The group of bereaved with the reactive depression was compared to bereaved with fewer depressive symptoms on 53 demographic, social and physical variables. Few differences were found, and most were related to the diagnosis of depression in the one group and not in the other. One social variable that showed a significant difference was that fewer of those with reactive depression had children in the area they considered close. Thus one means of support, emotional, physical or financial, was not available to them. As opposed to other differences, this difference of support might be thought of as a causative factor in the development of the depression. Age, sex, previous treatment for a depression, family history of depression or alcoholism were not different in the two groups and therefore could not predict outcome. One incidental finding is noteworthy. Of the 109 women in the study, 81 per cent of the deceased and 47 per cent of the surviving women were housewives (p<.005). The women who died were not significantly older or unemployed because of illness. Finally, from a group of durable marriages, 65 per cent of the conjugally bereaved experienced minimal depressive symptoms.

Outcome of investigation of patients with presenile dementia.

Abstract: Of 106 patients admitted for investigation to a neurological hospital with a presumptive diagnosis of dementia, 84 were confirmed to have intellectual impairment or loss of learning and memory function or both. A possible aetiology for the dementia was found in 36 of these 84 patients; the commonest causes discovered were intracranial mass lesions, arterial disease, and alcoholism. Fifteen of the 106 patients were found not to be demented but to have some other illness, most commonly depression. Of the whole series some 15% of the patients suffered from conditions that were amenable to treatment.

Proposed Classification of Childhood Depression

Abstract: Neurotic depressive reactions of mid-childhood may be classified into three distinct categories. Masked depression is the most frequent, appearing in children whose personality and family display severe psychopathology. Children suffering acute depression are fairly well adjusted prior to the traumatic event that precipitates the depression; there may be mild psychopathology in the family. Chronically depressed children have a history of marginal premorbid social adjustment, depression, and repeated separations from important adults; in addition, at least one parent has a history of recurrent depression.

Hypersomnia and Manic-Depressive Disease

Abstract: The authors studied 84 bipolar and unipolar depressed patients by means of a questionnaire to determine whether they showed symptoms of increased sleep time. Their finding that hypersomnia is not an unusual symptom of depression has implications both for the classification of affective disorders and for biologic research.

Environmental stress in primary depressive illness.

Abstract: The occurrence of life-change events (as defined by the social readjustment rating questionnaire) prior to disease onset was measured in a group of 74 patients suffering from primary depressive disorders. The resultant frequency distribution histogram was unimodal. Patients with a positive family history for depression did not differ significantly, in these measurements, from those with a negative family history nor did patients with "endogenous" depression differ significantly from those with "reactive" depression. We were, therefore, unable to distinguish two populations within the depressed group using this parameter. We conclude that the terms "endogenous" and "reactive" are misleading for the majority of patients with depressive illness.

Depression during mania: clinical observations and theoretical implications.

Abstract: In the course of longitudinal studies of patients with manic-depressive illness, the authors regularly observed clear features of depression during periods of acute mania. The relationship of depression to mania in 20 hospitalized patients was systematically investigated through an analysis of nurses' and physicians' behavioral ratings and notes. Statistically significant positive associations between mania and depression were found in the majority of cases. The psychological implications of the concurrent presence of depression and mania are discussed.

Alcoholism, Alcohol Intoxication, and Suicide Attempts

Abstract: A total of 34 patients were admitted to the hospital with wounds inflicted in suicide attempts, 29 were alcoholics Of these, 26 were intoxicated at the time of the suicide attempt Two behavioral syndromes and a high incidence of amnesia and denial (42%) were identified Seven patients with an "abreactive" syndrome made their attempts after becoming abruptly intoxicated These attempts occurred in the context of an interpersonal interaction with manifest anger, aggression, and hyperactivity These patients seldom sustained severe injuries Eleven patients with a "depressive syndrome of chronic intoxication" made their attempts after two weeks or more of excessive drinking during which they had increasing depression in mood, motor retardation, and withdrawal While the majority of these patients inflicted potentially fatal injuries such depressions are detectable and these suicides are potentially preventable

Parkinsonism and depression.

Abstract: From a retrospective study of parkinsonian patients studied over the years, the authors speculate upon possible neurochemical relationships between the physical manifestations of the disease and the depressive components. They believe that as neural deficits progress the likelihood of depression is

Antinuclear Factor in Psychiatric Disorders

Abstract: In a double-blind test to determine whether the antinuclear factor (ANF) was present in patients with psychiatric disorders, a significantly greater number of positive ANF results was found in patients whose conditions were characterized by depression.

History of depression as a risk factor for depression with oral contraceptives and discontinuance.

Abstract: 5151 Female patients (mean age 35.6 years para 2.7) nonpregnant nonpostpartum nonmenopausal or postmenopausal were studied to evaluate history of severe depression during or after pregnancy as a predispostion to depressive reactions to oral contraceptives (OCs). A comprehensive health questionnaire given these women asked whether severe depression had accompanied pregnancy. Current depression was measured by the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and 3 self-rating mood scales. A significantly larger proportion of post-OC users reported a history of depression during and after pregnancy than current users or never users. However an association between duration of use and depressive history was absent. A relationship between history of depression and abnormal depression with OC use was absent. Past OC users reported more cases of severe premenstrual irritability than did current users. While evidence suggesting an aggravation of the depressive condition by use of OCs was absent there appeared to be a relation to a history of pregnancy-related depression and discontinuance of OCs.

Relationship of patient background characteristics to efficacy of pharmacotherapy in depression

Abstract: As a part of a Collaborative Depression Treatment Study pretreatment background characteristics (socioeconomic, demographic, and prior psychiatric status) of 163 depressed women were examined to determine whether they were related to the degree of clinical response to amitriptyline. Further analyses

Role of Antidepressants and Neuroleptics in the Treatment of Depression

Abstract: In two studies, the relationship among depressive symptoms, depression, and psychotropic drugs was examined. In the first study, imipramine hydrochloride was administered in low and high dosages to chronic schizophrenic patients with prominent apathy and anergy, viz, symptoms of depression. Stimulating properties (improvement in areas of motor retardation and emotional withdrawal, worsening in tension) were noted. Not all patients displayed signs of stimulation; no suppression of the stimulative effect occurred with high dosages. The hypothesis that thiothixene might have a stimulative effect at low dosages in the above patients was not supported. In the second study, thiothixene was compared with amitriptyline hydrochloride in the treatment of 40 patients who had been diagnosed as suffering from endogenous depression. Global ratings and rating scales favored amitriptyline. These results suggest that antidepressants are the treatment of choice in the diagnosis of depression, but they are probably contraindicated in symptoms of depression.

Factors Related to the Localisation of Symptoms to the Chest in Depression

Abstract: It seems likely that a constellation of factors help to determine the presence of localized symptoms to the chest in depression. These include previous and current organic respiratory disease; a pre-existing excessively health-conscious obsessional personality; a high frequency of severe lower respiratory tract disease in the family, including recollection of prolonged breathlessness in a parent; and recent bereavement, including witnessing the death with gross emotional impact.

Undiagnosed psychiatric patients. I. Record study.

Abstract: The information about 256 undiagnosed psychiatric patients was reviewed using diagnostic criteria for psychiatric research. The results were: (1) Eighty-three (32 per cent) of the patients remained undiagnosed; 74 (29 per cent) because of too few symptoms and 9 (4 per cent) because of multiple apparently incompatible diagnoses. (2) It was possible to diagnose 173 of the patients (68 per cent), using these criteria. The diagnoses attained, with percentages, were: Depression—35, Schizophrenia—17, Schizo-affective—11, Antisocial Personality—10, Drug Dependency—6, Hysteria and Anxiety Neurosis—5, Mania—3, Alcoholism and Organic Brain Syndrome—2, Mental Retardation—1, Phobic Neurosis and Obsessive-Compulsive Neurosis—1, Homosexuality— (3) The review diagnosis was in most cases in agreement with, and never discordant from, a final chart diagnosis given to 26 patients in subsequent admissions. (4) The features considered to account for a patient having been classified as undiagnosed were: young age; delusions and hallucinations associated with depression; association of anti-social personality in schizophrenia; association of depression, drug abuse and alcoholism in antisocial personality; the uncertainty of withdrawal symptoms in drug abuse; mixture of symptoms in schizo-affective illness; and others.

L‐5‐Hydroxytryptophan‐(L‐5‐HTP) Therapie*

Abstract: Summary Our experience on 107 cases of endogenous depression shows that L-5-hydroxy-tryptophan is clinically effective If we disregard the cases who showed improvement only after 4 weeks, more than half of the cases improved within a few weeks by L-5-HTP We propose that endogenous depression is a disease in which biosynthesis of serotonin is periodically decreased, and this decrease is shown clinically as depression, and L-5-HTP, which penetrates into brain through blood brain barrier and is decar-boxylated to form serotonin, may well be supplying serotonin the brain of depression needs The dose used by us is rather low comparing to L-DOPA dose on parkinsonism, and changes of serotonin or 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid level in blood or cerebrospinal fluid may be very small, although still to be determined As far as we have experienced, the administration of L-5-HTP for several weeks caused no severe side effects The administration of L-5-HTP, we believe, opened a new approach to treat and analyse endogenous depression Clinically, it is effective for the treatment and prevention of the depressive phase of endogenous depression An important problem is why the biosynthesis of serotonin is decreased in endogenous depression, and this problem is to be solved to understand the basic disorder of the disease

Depression following fenfluramine withdrawal.

Abstract: PITTS' AND McCLURE'S LACTATE-ANXIETY STUDY REVISITED DEAR Sm, Grosz and Farmer (Journal, April 1972, 120, 4:5—8) have reported the results of an interesting study showing that anxiety symptoms can be preci pitated by the production of metabolic alkalosis. Unfortunately, they present their results as a refuta tion of the previous conclusions of Pitts and McClure (New Eng.3. Med. 1967, 27, :329—36,) that an anxiety state can be induced by elevating blood lactate concentration. It is true that the data of Grosz and Farmer, if confirmed, would lead to a new interpretation of the previous conclusions regarding blood lactate. However, these newer findings should be viewed simply as an extension and refinement of the hypothesis of Pius and McClure. The tendency in psychiatric research to view an incomplete or partially correct theory as an error discourages investi