Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

G A Fava

Publications and source records attributed to G A Fava.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Measurement of subclinical changes during lithium prophylaxis: a longitudinal study.

Psychological distress was observer-rated with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and self-rated with the Symptom Questionnaire (SQ) every other week for a 6-month period in 9 apparently remitted bipolar patients attending a lithium clinic. Substantial clinical fluctuations in psychopathology were observed with both rating methods. Compared to normal control subjects, patients suffering from bipolar disorder displayed significantly higher BPRS and SQ anxiety, somatization and total distress scores.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Health attitudes of psychiatric inpatients.

Despite the high prevalence of medical illness in the mentally ill population, little is known about the health attitudes of patients with combined medical and psychiatric disorders. We compared the health attitudes of a group of inpatients with concomitant medical and psychiatric illness, a group of physically healthy psychiatric inpatients, and a group of normals. The instrument used was the Illness Attitude Scales, a self-rating scale designed to explore beliefs which can be responsible for hypochondriacal attitudes. A self-rating scale of psychological distress, the Symptom Questionnaire, was administered as well. Compared to normals, psychiatric patients displayed more hypochondriasis. There were no significant differences in psychological distress or health attitudes between patients with concomitant physical and psychiatric disorder and physically healthy psychiatric patients.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1987

Criteria for diagnosing depression in the setting of medical disease.

The evaluation of depression in the setting of medical disease is a complex task that requires considerable clinical skills. Physical illness is a common cause of psychopathology and this should alert the physician to vigorously search for possible organic explanations of depressive symptoms, especially in the elderly, where organic affective syndromes seem to be most prevalent. The multifactorial determinants and modes of expression of depression in the medically ill require further psychosomatic studies.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1987

Medical-psychiatric service.

Recently, some American general hospitals have organized medical-psychiatric units for patients with concomitant medical and psychiatric disorder. These services have attracted considerable interest for their psychosomatic features, namely the treatment of patients who require acute hospital care and cannot be managed adequately either in a standard psychiatric unit or in the medical-surgical wards of the general hospital. In due course, however, as often happens with innovations, the establishment of medical-psychiatric units has also come in for criticism and evaluation. Different models of medical-psychiatric services are discussed and compared.

Humans↗
PubMed1987

A psychosomatic outpatient clinic.

Current emphasis in clinical psychosomatic medicine is on psychiatric interventions in acute medical and surgical situations (consultation-liaison psychiatry and medical-psychiatric units). Little interest has been taken in psychosomatic interventions in chronic situations and outpatient settings. The functioning of a psychosomatic outpatient clinic (POC) is described. One-hundred consecutive referrals were analyzed. The most frequent diagnostic finding--according to DSM III criteria--was subsumed under the rubric of "psychological factors affecting physical condition," followed by affective illness, anxiety disturbances, and somatoform disorders. The results indicate that a POC may serve a specific and definable segment of patients, whose characteristics depart from the clinical populations in consultation-liaison psychiatry and medical-psychiatric units.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Major depression associated with endocrine disease.

The discovery of specific behavioral effects of several neuropeptides and the expanded appreciation of a wide range of endocrine disturbances in depressive illness have recently renewed interest in the nature of the relationship between mood and endocrine changes. Major depressive disorders are a major and life-threatening complication of Cushing's syndrome, Addison's disease, hyperthyroidism, hypothyroidism and hyperprolactinemic amenorrhea. A treatment primarily directed to the physical condition may be more effective than antidepressant drugs in such organic affective syndromes. The influence of hormonal disturbances in the development of depression in Conn's disease, pheochromocytoma, parathyroid disturbances, SIADH, acromegaly, hirsutism and other endocrine diseases should be individually evaluated. Antidepressant drugs remain the most specific and readily available treatment of major depressive disorders in the setting of endocrine illness.

Addison Disease↗
PubMed1986

Diagnosis and treatment of depression in the medically ill.

The evaluation of depression in the medically ill is a complex task that requires considerable clinical skills. Physical illness is a common cause of psychopathology and this should alert the physician to search for possible organic explanations of depressive symptoms, especially in the elderly. Major depressive disorders need to be differentiated from physiological demoralizations secondary to the strains of somatic disturbances. Clinical guidelines for the use of antidepressant medications in the medically ill are provided.

Antidepressive Agents↗
PubMed1986

Hostility and recovery from melancholia.

Twenty inpatients suffering from major depressive illness with melancholia were administered the hostility subscale of the Kellner Symptom Questionnaire and Paykel's Clinical Interview for Depression before and after treatment with amitriptyline. A matched control group of normal subjects had the same assessments at two points in time. Hostility decreased and friendliness increased in depressives after amitriptyline; upon recovery, there were no significant differences in hostility between depressed patients and control subjects, whereas such differences were striking during the illness. Patients who had reported losses before onset of illness rated themselves as more friendly than the other depressives; their hostility did not significantly decrease with recovery. The results suggest that hostility improves with the treatment of depression; life events appear to influence the degree of hostility in depressive illness as well as the response to treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Psychotherapy research. Clinical trials versus clinical reality.

The benefits of psychotherapy have been established in a number of controlled studies, yet the application of these research findings in clinical practice seems to be limited. The converging developments of psychopharmacology, behavior modification and dynamic psychotherapy are briefly reviewed, and the needs for methodological and clinical integration are underscored.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1986

Irritability.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Depressive Disorder↗
PubMed1985

The dexamethasone suppression and metyrapone tests in depression.

The dexamethasone suppression test (DST) and the metyrapone test (MT), a useful and reliable procedure for assessing the integrity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, were performed in 28 patients suffering from major depressive illness with melancholia. The relationship between the DST and MT appeared to be complex. Patients who failed to suppress cortisol secretion after dexamethasone administration had higher postmetyrapone cortexolone levels and cortexolone/cortisol ratios than suppressors. However, there was a wide range of metyrapone responses in patients exhibiting abnormal DST results. This suggests that failure of adequate suppression after 1 mg of dexamethasone in depressed patients does not necessarily reflect homogeneity in the HPA axis disturbances of such patients.

17-Hydroxycorticosteroids↗
PubMed1985

The metyrapone test in depressed males.

Hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis in depression has received considerable attention, particularly in the now numerous studies utilizing the dexamethasone suppression test. The possibility of HPA axis hypoactivity in this population however has not been similarly explored. To examine this latter possibility, the metyrapone test, a well-established neuro-endocrine assay for determining pituitary reserve, was administered to ten endogenously depressed males and ten matched controls. Consistent with the findings of an earlier study on ten female depressives, one of the depressed males but none of the controls showed clear evidence of HPA axis hypoactivity. This suggests that HPA axis dysfunction in depressives may be more complex than originally anticipated. This finding also has implications for the psychiatric symptomatology classically associated with such illnesses as Addison's disease.

Addison Disease↗
PubMed1985

Case report of prolactin and bipolar illness: a longitudinal study.

A longitudinal and naturalistic study of nine bipolar patients attending a lithium clinic during a six-month period was undertaken. Prolactin plasma levels and psychiatric symptoms were evaluated bi-weekly. Wide interindividual and intraindividual fluctuations were observed both in prolactin levels and psychiatric symptoms. The relationship between prolactin and affective episodes was found to be complex. In a few instances, sharp prolactin changes preceded behavioral modifications. Bipolar disorders, even if treated, appeared to be unstable conditions, from both the phenomenological and neuroendocrinological viewpoints.

Adult↗