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Biomedical subjects

G A Fava

Publications and source records attributed to G A Fava.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

The metyrapone test in schizophrenic patients and healthy subjects.

The metyrapone test, a useful and reliable procedure for assessing hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis function, was applied to schizophrenic patients and healthy controls. 4 out of 18 patients had subnormal responses to metyrapone whereas there were no such cases in the 22 control subjects. 1 schizophrenic patient and 3 control subjects had high normal responses to metyrapone. The relationship with the dexamethasone suppression test was found to be complex. These preliminary results suggest that the HPA axis activity patterns in psychiatric illness may be more complicated than previously reported.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

The medical-psychiatric unit: a novel psychosomatic approach.

A retrospective chart review of 600 general hospital patients, of whom 200 had been admitted to a medical-psychiatric unit, 200 to a conventional psychiatric unit and 200 to medical-surgical units, and for whom psychiatric consultation had been requested, disclosed significant differences in the patient populations of these services. The data suggest that consultation psychiatry and medical-psychiatric units serve two different subgroups of patients with combined physical and psychiatric illness. A comprehensive model of clinical psychosomatic medicine encompassing consultation psychiatry, liaison psychiatry, medical-psychiatric units and after-care medical-psychiatric clinics, is proposed.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Depression and gastrointestinal illness: the joint use of biological and clinical criteria.

Occurrence and characteristics of depression were investigated in 37 consecutive patients suffering from gastrointestinal illness. More than 40% of patients with an organic digestive disease and about a quarter of those with functional gastroenterological complaints were found to suffer from a major depressive disorder according to DSM-III criteria. The dexamethasone suppression test--a laboratory marker of the endogenous depressive state--supported clinical diagnosis in several cases, yet its routine use to screen depression is not warranted because of its poor specificity. The results should alert the physician to include clinical and biological criteria for depression in the diagnostic work-up for gastrointestinal illness.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Treatment responses in primary and secondary melancholia: a preliminary report.

Ten patients suffering from primary affective illness and melancholia were compared to 10 melancholic subjects whose depression was chronologically superimposed on a preexisting nonaffective psychiatric disturbance. Both groups displayed a satisfactory response to treatment with amitriptyline. Similar patterns of improvement were reported in the two groups, and there was a concordance of subjective and objective rating methods.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Prolactin, amitriptyline, and recovery from depression.

Spontaneous prolactin patterns were determined at 15-min intervals over 5 h in 13 patients, who were suffering from melancholia, during illness and after treatment with amitriptyline. Plasma prolactin levels were significantly greater at most sampling points after patients had recovered than during their illnesses. One patient, who did not recover, showed the opposite trend.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

The metyrapone test in affective disorders and schizophrenia II. Changes upon treatment.

The metyrapone test was applied to groups of patients suffering from major depressive illness with melancholia, mania or schizophrenia, before and after treatment. There were interesting individual correlations between post-metyrapone cortexolone values, cortexolone/cortisol ratios and clinical improvement in depressives. Two patients who had exhibited abnormal metyrapone responses displayed a normalization of post-metyrapone cortexolone values upon clinical improvement, whereas the opposite trend was observed in a patient who did not improve and in another who became manic. These preliminary results may indicate that abnormal metyrapone responses in depression are state dependent.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

The metyrapone test in affective disorders and schizophrenia.

The metyrapone test was applied to patients suffering from major depressive illness with melancholia, from mania, and from schizophrenia. Hypoactivity of the HPA axis as assessed by the test appears to occur infrequently in affective disorders and schizophrenia. High normal or exaggerated responses to metyrapone, as observed in Cushing's disease, appear to be correlated to DST non-suppression in melancholia.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

The metyrapone test in manic patients and healthy subjects.

The metyrapone (Metopiron) test (MT), a useful and reliable procedure for assessing hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function, was applied to manic patients and healthy subjects. Three out of 11 patients had high normal responses to metyrapone, as observed in patients with Cushing's disease. One patient exhibited a subnormal response to metyrapone, as occurs in patients with adrenal insufficiency. No such abnormalities were detected in 11 matched healthy control subjects. These preliminary results suggest that the HPA axis activity patterns in mania may be more complex than previously reported.

17-Hydroxycorticosteroids↗
PubMed1984

Health attitudes and psychological distress in patients attending a lithium clinic.

Health attitudes and psychological distress were investigated in 50 patients attending a lithium clinic and in 50 normal controls. Patients receiving lithium treatment did not report more worry about illness, hypochondriacal attitudes, concern about pain, disease phobia and bodily preoccupations than normals, even though they took fewer precautions about their health and exhibited more self-rated psychological distress. Since most of the psychiatric patients were found to display more fears about illness and death than controls in other studies, this preliminary report may suggest that normal health attitudes are associated with lithium compliance in affective illness.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Patterns of depression and illness behaviour in general hospital patients.

Little interest has been taken in the characteristics of depression in medical and surgical patients and its correlations with syndromes which may be subsumed under the rubric of abnormal illness behaviour. Depressive symptoms and abnormal illness behaviour as measured by self-rating scales were studied among 325 inpatients of a general hospital. A principal component analysis was carried out. A first factor reflecting general severity was characterized by depressed affect, somatic symptoms, retardation, hypochondriasis, and disease conviction and showed considerable stability within the group. A second factor suggested that in contrast to the younger patients, older patients had a tendency to focus on somatic problems and not psychological determinants, were likely to attribute all difficulties to physical illness, and lacked readiness to report interpersonal friction.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1984

Psychological distress and amniocentesis.

40 women who underwent amniocentesis were administered the Symptom Questionnaire to evaluate changes in psychological distress. Anxiety, depression, somatic symptoms and hostility significantly decreased after the results of the procedure were communicated to the patient, replicating the findings in a previous study. Psychological distress, however, returned to the initial levels in the third trimester of pregnancy. Women whose only indication for amniocentesis was an age of 35 years or older displayed significantly higher hostility and somatic symptoms and less contentment before the procedure than the other women. Subsequently these differences lost their significance and the two groups showed similar patterns of psychological distress throughout the pregnancy.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Hyperprolactinemia, distress, and hostility.

The scores of 14 women with hyperprolactinemia on the Symptom Rating Test and the Symptom Questionnaire were compared with those of nonpsychotic women attending a psychiatric clinic, women attending a family practice clinic, and female nonpatient employees. The scores of the hyperprolactinemic women were similar to those of the psychiatric patients. Hyperprolactinemic patients were significantly more hostile, depressed, and anxious and had more feelings of inadequacy than family practice patients and nonpatient employees. The authors recommend measuring the serum prolactin levels of women with depression, hostility, anxiety, and symptoms or signs suggestive of hyperprolactinemia.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

The lithium loading dose method in a clinical setting.

The lithium loading dose method developed by Cooper and associates resulted in achievement of therapeutic concentrations in 29 of 30 psychiatric inpatients. Fewer lithium determinations were required than in 30 other inpatients treated with the traditional trial-and-error technique.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Prolactin, aggression and hostility: a discussion of recent studies.

Several studies are summarized in which the relationship of high prolactin levels and self-rated anger-hostility was examined. The Symptom Questionnaire, a state measure which contains an anger-hostility scale, was included in all studies. Women with hyperprolactinemic amenorrhea were found to have higher hostility scores than amenorrheic women with normal prolactin levels. In another study, hyperprolactinemic women were found to have higher hostility scores than female family practice patients, random employees and there was a nonsignificant trend for higher hostility scores than in female nonpsychotic psychiatric outpatients. In both studies, depression and anxiety were also significantly higher. When bromocriptine, a prolactin lowering drug, was administered to hyperprolactinemic women in a double blind crossover study, there was a significant and progressive decrease of hostility, depression and anxiety while on bromocriptine, parallel with the decrease in prolactin and no change on placebo. Post-partum women who had high prolactin levels were significantly more hostile than a control group of employees and as hostile as hyperprolactinemic women. Hyperprolactinemic males were no more hostile than controls. The relationship of prolactin to post-partum aggression in mammals is briefly reviewed. The findings are inconclusive; in the three species studied, postpartum aggression is perhaps enhanced, but does not depend on high prolactin levels. There are no studies on the relationship of prolactin levels and violence in women. Hostility associated with high prolactin levels in postpartum women is perhaps a phylogenetic remnant which may have had the evolutionary advantage of protecting the young.

Aggression↗
PubMed1983

Assessing depressive symptoms across cultures: Italian validation of the CES-D self-rating scale.

Although several self-rating scales for depression have been proposed in the past two decades, very few have been validated on non-English-speaking populations. The present study was carried out in northern Italy in order to examine the validity of the CES-D self-rating scale for depression in another language and culture. The scale was used with 40 depressives and 40 normals who were matched. The Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) was used as an additional test of concurrent validity. The results show that the CES-D is a valid measure in that it sensitively discriminates between depressed patients and normals and presents satisfactory correlations with the observer rating scale (HRSD) in both groups. The scale in its Italian translation is likely to be helpful in the assessment of depression of Italian immigrants in North America and Australia, especially in those whose English is poor.

Cultural Characteristics↗
PubMed1983

Psychosomatic aspects of hyperprolactinemia.

A review of some recent studies on the psychosomatic aspects of hyperprolactinemia is presented. Women seem to be more prone to suffer from the behavioral effects of prolactin than males. Women with hyperprolactinemic amenorrhea rated themselves significantly more hostile, more depressed and more anxious than women with amenorrhea only and other control groups. Hyperprolactinemic males did not rate themselves more hostile and depressed than matched controls. Psychological distress and hostility appear to remit upon treatment with bromocriptine. Postpartum patients matched for prolactin levels with hyperprolactinemic women showed significantly less depression and anxiety but about the same levels of hostility. Hostility, depression and loss of libido may coexist in the same hyperprolactinemic patient but they may be also present independently.

Adaptation, Psychological↗