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G Loas

Publications and source records attributed to G Loas.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

[Implications of 5-HT2 receptors in the increase of slow wave sleep in healthy volunteers under amoxapine].

Amoxapine is an antidepressant drug which increases stages III and IV of slow wave sleep to both bad sleepers and volunteers. This effect appears within several studies during the whole period of amoxapine administration (3 or 4 weeks). On the other hand, specific 5-HT2 antagonists produce the same effect upon the slow wave sleep, to both bad sleepers and volunteers. Biological studies showed that amoxapine is the strongest 5-HT2 inhibitor among antidepressant drugs. Therefore amoxapine effect upon slow wave sleep would be relied to 5-HT2 receptor blocking. The author reviews some hypothesis related to slow wave sleep regulation by serotonin.

Amoxapine↗
PubMed1989

[Anhedonia in psychiatry: a review].

Anhedonia, the loss of the capacity of feeling pleasure, was first introduced at the end of the last century by a French psychologist, Ribot, and has been the object of much research, essentially in English, for the last decades, in schizophrenia, in depression, in schizoid disorders. After considering the problems of quantitative evaluation, we review the literature and conclude that anhedonia appears to be a multi-morphological symptom and the are probably several types of anhedonia, which shows the necessity of developing more specific reliable evaluation instruments and of diversifying the approaches. We show the utility, in particular, of a psychophysiological approach using endogenous Evoked Potentials. Then several research directions in psychiatry are discussed: what place has anhedonia in the negative form of schizophrenia? Does anhedonia constitute a specific marker of certain endogenous depressions? Does it constitute a personality trait that predisposes to morbidity?

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Anhedonia and blunted affect in major depressive disorder.

The relation between anhedonia and affective flattening was studied in 61 normal subjects and 61 major depressives. Affective flattening and anhedonia were defined by the following self-rating scales: Fawcett-Clark Pleasure Capacity Scale (FCPCS), Hardy Displeasure Capacity Scale (HDCS), FCPCS-PP (subscale of physical pleasure), and HDCS-PD (subscale of physical displeasure). The depressives are more sensitive to displeasure and more anhedonic than controls. Concerning physical stimulations (FCPCS-PP and HDCS-PD) in the depressed group, anhedonia and affective flattening are not linked, suggesting that physical anhedonia is not secondary to low emotional reactivity (affective flattening) and constitutes an independent dimension.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Anhedonia and negative symptomatology in chronic schizophrenia.

The relationships between negative symptomatology and anhedonia have been studied on 61 subjects who had Research Diagnostic Criteria for chronic schizophrenia. Negative symptomatology was rated by the negative subscales of the Kay Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Anhedonia was rated by the Physical Anhedonia Scale of Chapman (PAS), the Fawcett-Clark Pleasure Capacity Scale-Physical Pleasure (FCPCS-PP), and the social interest subscale (SIS) of the Nurse Observation Scale for Inpatients (NOSIE-30). Pearson correlations were calculated between negative and anhedonia scales. Schizophrenics were dichotomized first into negatives and positives using the composite score of the PANSS, and second into low and high negatives using the negative subscale of the PANSS. For each dichotomy, the corresponding subgroups were compared on anhedonia scales using Student's test. The results have shown no significant correlations between negative and anhedonia scales (PAS and FCPCS-PP). There were no significant differences concerning the PAS and the FCPCS-PP between negative and positive subgroups of schizophrenics and between low- and high-negative subgroups. Anhedonia is not a negative symptom. Our results confirm the reported studies on subjective experiences in schizophrenia. A search for more restricted forms of schizophrenia characterized by severe anhedonia is needed.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Is alexithymia a negative factor for maintaining abstinence? A follow-up study.

The prevalence of alexithymia in 46 inpatients with alcohol abuse or dependence was 67.4%. Pretreatment characteristics predicting outcome at 15 months were determined. At the 15-month time point, 67.4% of patients met criteria for abuse or alcohol dependence and 32.6% were abstinent. In patients who relapsed, the total score for the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and the score for the TAS-20-feelings factor were significantly higher than in subjects who were abstinent, even when depressive symptoms were taken into account. Stepwise multiple linear regression showed that the TAS-20-feelings factor significantly predicted abstinence. The results may suggest that alexithymia predicted poor outcome in alcoholic inpatients.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Alexithymia, depression and drug addiction].

Alexithymia is a multidimensional concept associating an emotional component focused on the difficulty in identifying and describing feelings and a cognitive one centred on the use of a concrete and poorly introspective way of thinking. Alexithymia can be assessed by self-assessment instruments and in particular by the 20 items version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Depressive disorders have complex relationships with the construct of alexithymia and there exist few experimental works on the subject. Epidemiological studies frequently raise an overlap between alexithymia and depression, in particular in the context of addiction. The main aim of this study was to confirm the high prevalence of alexithymia among drug addicted patients taking into account socio-demographic variables (sex, age, social and economic categories). The second aim of the study was to investigate the relationships between alexithymia and depression among drug addicted patients. A sample of 128 drug addicted patients answering DSM IV criteria of dependence to a psycho-active substance (alcohol excluded) was paired according to socio-demographic variables to a control sample of 128 normal subjects. Diagnostic assessment was made using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Alexithymia and depression were assessed with the TAS-20 and with the short version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-13). The results confirm the high prevalence of alexithymia among drug addicted patients (43.5%) compared to controls (24.6%). This difference is based namely on the emotional component of alexithymia, the cognitive component failing to show any difference between the two samples. Moreover, alexithymia appears to be independent from socio-demographic variables in our sample of drug addicted patients; 66.4% of drug addicted patients presents a depressive symptomatology (which is significantly more important in female patients), compared to 26% of the controls. Studies using the TAS and the BDI with 21 items have shown that from 10 to 20% of the variance of alexithymia is explained by depression. Our own results show a shared variance of 20% between the TAS-20 and the BDI, going in the direction of a moderated correlation between alexithymia and depressive symptomatology. Moreover, when we retain only subjects without depressive symptomatology at BDI, drug addicted (n=42) are not any more alexithymic than controls (n=114). Our results plead for a positive association between depression and alexithymia in drug addicted, depressed or healthy subjects. Alexithymia and depression would be two associated dimensions, the emotional component explaining alone this association. The emotional component of the alexithymia would be thymo-dependent, whereas the cognitive component (externally oriented thought) would be independent and constitute a stable clinical feature. These results are concordant with other studies in the literature suggesting that alexithymia in its emotional component is supported by depression. Alexithymia thus did not appear as an autonomous dimension which would discriminate between drug addicted and controls, independently of the absence of a depressive state. The Authors discuss the complexity of the relationships between alexithymia and depression and the correlations between TAS and BDI scales especially for the factor Difficulty Identifying Feelings. These results deserve further studies. The cross-sectional nature of this study do not allow to establish if alexithymia is a subjacent and preexistent in the form of a psychopathological dimension in addictive behaviours, so supporting its emergence, and/or if it develops once the dependence is installed and chronicized. Longitudinal studies remain to be realised.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Are anxiety or depressive disorders more frequent among one of the anorexia or bulimia nervosa subtype?].

UNLABELLED: Our objective was to answer the following question: are there differences between diagnostic groups of eating disorders (ED) for the prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorders, when clinical differences between the groups are taken into account (ie age of subjects, ED duration, inpatient or outpatient status, and Body Mass Index)? METHOD: We evaluated the frequency of anxiety disorders and depressive disorders in 271 subjects presenting with a diagnosis of either anorexia nervosa or bulimia, using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), DSM IV version. We compared the prevalences between sub-groups of anorexics (AN-R and AN-BN), between sub-groups of bulimics (BN-P and BN-NP) and between anorexics and bulimics while adjusting for the variables defined below. RESULTS: Current or lifetime comorbidity of anxiety and depressive disorders did not differ between AN-Rs and AN-BNs, nor between BN-Ps and BN-NPs. Only current diagnoses of agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder were significantly more frequent in anorexics than in bulimics. CONCLUSION: The greater frequency of comorbidity between obsessive-compulsive disorder and AN compared to BN, already well documented, is not questioned. The remaining anxiety disorders are equally frequent among all the diagnostic types of ED.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Is depressive disorder linked to anxiety disorder among anorexics and bulimics?].

UNLABELLED: The primaty objective is to determine whether the presence anxiety disorders is related to depressive comorbidity in subjects suffering from ED, while taking into account certain variables which may be related to depression [subjects' age, ED duration, prior incidents of anorexia nervosa in BN subjects, inpatient or outpatient status, nutritional state (as measured by Body Mass Index or BMI)]. Our secondary objective is to evaluate the relative chronology of the onset of anxiety disorders and depressive disorders in anorexic and bulimic subjects. METHOD: We evaluated the frequency of depressive disorders in 271 subjects presenting with a diagnosis of either anorexia nervosa or bulimia, using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), DSM IV version. RESULTS: While univariate analyses show that nearly all anxiety disorders are related to major depressive episode (MDE), a separate analysis of each anxiety disorder reveals that they do not all have the same influence in terms of risk of onset of MDE in anorexics and bulimics, when adjusted for univariate variables related to MDE (subjects' age, ED duration, prior incidents of anorexia nervosa in BN subjects, inpatient or outpatient status, nutritional state). Current generalized anxiety is significantly related to lifetime presence of MDE in AN subjects, and to current MDE in AN and BN subjects. Generalized anxiety is the most frequent disorder in AN and BN subjects to according our study; it also appears to be one of the principal predictive factors for MDE, which is 2.4 to 4.2 times more frequent when GAD is present. Diagnosis of OCD has its own particular effect on lifetime risk for MDE in AN subjects, regardless of GAD: it increases the risk of depression by 3.5. It is one of the most frequent anxiety disorders among AN subjects, present in nearly a quarter of them. In bulimics, when GAD is excluded, two factors are related to current diagnosis of MDE: panic disorder and subjects' inpatient or outpatient status. Hospitalized bulimics are diagnosed with current MDE 4.4 times more often than those seen as.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Parasuicide, anhedonia, and depression.

Previous research has shown that anhedonia characterizes suicide attempters. The present study aimed to replicate this finding using the level of depression as a control. Seventy-three depressed parasuicides, 30 nondepressed parasuicides, and 104 matched controls were assessed on the Revised Physical Anhedonia Scale (PAS). Consistent with previous studies, depressed parasuicides were significantly more anhedonic than controls, but nondepressed parasuicides were not significantly more anhedonic than controls. Moreover, multiple linear regression analysis showed that the PAS score explained a negligible part of the variance in the distinction between parasuicides and controls. Anhedonia in parasuicides constitutes a depressive feature and not a temperamental trait.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Anhedonia in the deficit syndrome of schizophrenia.

Previous studies have shown that anhedonia characterizes the deficit syndrome of schizophrenia. Anhedonia is also one of the main symptoms of the depressive state. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between anhedonia and depression in the deficit syndrome of schizophrenia. Self-evaluations of anhedonia and depression were performed by three groups of subjects (32 deficit schizophrenics, 32 major depressives, 35 healthy subjects) matched for sociodemographic variables. Deficit schizophrenics and major depressives are more anhedonic than controls, but there is no difference between the two study groups. Contrarily to what is evidenced for major depressives and for healthy subjects, the depressive symptomatology correlates with anhedonia in deficit schizophrenics. When deficit schizophrenics are dichotomized into depressed versus non-depressed patients, no difference is observed concerning anhedonia. These results suggest that anhedonia in the deficit syndrome of schizophrenia has no specificity but appears independent of coexisting depression and covaries with several characteristics of depression (retardation, cognitive distortions). Our results support the hypothesis that the deficit syndrome of schizophrenia could constitute a non-depressive mood disorder.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Relationships between subjective experiences of deficit and other psychopathological features in schizophrenia.

The study of subjective symptomatology among schizophrenic patients has been neglected. Even if the patient complaints have always been at the root of the psychiatrist's work, it has not been conceivable to integrate them in objective studies. Since 1950, Huber has been interested in the basic symptoms and has developed his concept of 'a pure defect state', a syndrome which is present as soon as the beginning of the disease and on which episodes of decompensation would crop up. In the 1980s, a majority of the scales for the assessment of subjective complaints appeared. Our study used the French version of the Scale of Subjective Experiences of Deficit, a scale which has a good internal consistency and interrater and test-retest reliability. In this study of 50 longterm schizophrenic patients, we compare subjective symptoms and objective symptoms using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. We point out - in agreement with previous work - a statistically significant correlation between subjective symptoms and positive symptoms.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Comparative study of the relationship between alexithymia and affective dependence on 60 alcoholics and 57 control subjects].

UNLABELLED: Several authors have shown that alexithymia characterizes patients suffering from substance abuses. Moreover emotional and perceptual dependencies have also been described in these disorders. The aim of this study is to test two hypotheses: First that the emotional components of alexithymia and dependency were linked in alcoholics and secondly that the cognitive components of these two dimensions were also linked in these subjects. Two groups were recruited: 60 inpatients filled out the DSM IV criteria for alcohol dependence and 57 healthy subjects were the controls. All the subjects completed the following rating scales: the twenty items Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Interpersonal Dependency Inventory (IDI), the Beck Depression Inventory, the Embedded Figures Test (EFT). Partial correlations (r Bravais Pearson), using BDI score as constant, were calculated. In normals the Feelings subscale of the TAS-20 correlated with the Lack of social self confidence subscale of the IDI (r = 0.43, p < 0.0018) and in alcoholics the Cognitive factor of the TAS-20 correlated with the Lack of social self confidence subscale (r = 0.41, p < 0.0018). Moreover in alcoholics, the cognitive factor of the TAS-20 correlated significantly with the EFT score (r = -0.35, p < 0.003). CONCLUSION: In alcoholics the cognitive component of alexithymia and the perceptual component of dependency were linked, independently of an associated depression. A particular cognitive style characterized by externality and field dependence could characterized dependent alcoholics.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Validation of the French version of a pleasure scale for children (The Pleasure Scale for Children, PSC, Kazdin, 1989) in 214 hospitalized children in pediatrics].

UNLABELLED: The aim of this study was to determine the metrological parameters of a french version of the Pleasure Scale for Children (PSC): 214 (121 males and 93 females) with a mean age of 8.69 years (sd: 1.95) ranging from 6 years to 12 years were included in the study. The children were inpatients presenting various somatic disorders. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: First a principal component analysis was done on the 39 items of the correlation matrix. Several guidelines were used to limit the number of factors (Kaiser criteria, Cattell scree test, Horn parallel analysis). Secondly the construct validity was studied using the alpha Cronbach coefficient and by calculing the Pearson correlation coefficient between each item and the total score. Thirdly the concurrent validity was determinated using two items of the Children Depression Rating Scale--Revised (CDRS-R) measuring pleasure (social withdrawal and enjoyment capacity). Fourthly the discriminant validity of the PSC was studied by comparing non depressive children (score lower than 30 to the CDRS-R) and depressive children (score higher than 30 to the CDRS-R). RESULTS: The principal component analysis showed a one factor solution with 33 items among the 39 having a higher than 0.3 saturation. The Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.84. All the items correlated with the total score. The mean value was 0.37. The correlations between the total score of the scale and the CDRS-R enjoyment capacity and social withdrawal items were respectively -0.37 (p < 0.01) and -0.38 (p < 0.01). PSC score were significantly lower in depressive children (m = 86.96; sd = 8.33) than in non depressive children (m = 94.67; sd = 10) (t = 5.32; df = 212; p < 0.001).

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Locus of control in alcoholics: comparative study of 64 alcoholics vs 50 hospitalized patients and 50 normal controls].

The locus of control is a construct that consists of factors that influence and contribute to a person's belief concerning the extent and degree to which he or others can influence life events. The study had four purposes. They were to examine differences between psychiatric inpatients alcoholics and non alcoholics on the internal, chance and powerful others subscales of the French version of Levenson's scale, to evaluate differences on these scores between the alcoholics who accepted the alcohol program treatment proposed at the admission (hospitalization of 15 days with a directive and structured context) and those who refused this treatment, to assess the impact of treatment on the Levenson scale scores of the alcoholics, and finally to determine whether the Levenson scale scores differentiate between treatment successes and failures (evaluated at three months). 171 subjects were divided into three groups: 64 patients hospitalized in psychiatry for chronic alcoholism (ICD-10 criteria for alcohol dependency), 50 patients hospitalized in psychiatry for an other pathology (control group) and 57 healthy subjects (normal group). These subjects filled out the IPC (Internal, Powerful others, Chance) scale of Levenson, different from the I-E (Internal-External) Rotter's scale because it distinguishes two types of externality: one imprevisible, the chance, and the other previsible, the powerful others. The results showed that the alcoholics as the controls are more external than the healthy subjects (Chance and Powerful others subscales). They also showed that the alcoholics who refused the alcohol treatment program proposed at the admission were more internal than those who accepted. We also found that, during the treatment, the alcoholics' scores of Internality increased while their scores of externality (Chance and Powerful others) decreased. This decreasing was also found with the check inpatients. So these changes would have connections with an "hospitalization factor" and wouldn't be due to the alcohol treatment. As for the last purpose, there were no significant differences between the initial locus of control scores of the successes and those of the failures.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Alexithymia and depression in eating disorders].

Patients suffering from eating disorder show elevated rates of alexithymia and depression. We compared alexithymia and depression ratings for non-hospitalized women meeting DSM IV criteria for anorexia nervosa (n = 32) and bulimia nervosa (n = 32) to healthy women (n = 74). Alexithymia was evaluated by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and depression by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD). We found that TAS and HAD scores were significantly higher in anorexic compared to bulimic patients, although alexithymia and depression, as evaluated, were significantly and positively correlated with each other (r = 0.53, p = 0.001). Finally, a logistic regression with alexithymia and depression as independent variables showed a strong correlations between the HAD ratings and anorexia, but no correlations between TAS score and the eating disorder subgroups. In eating disorder patients, alexithymia, as evaluated by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, seems to exhibit a thymo-dependent component which could be secondary to concurrent depression. Through recent studies and results of our research, we analyze and give several interpretations which may explain this correlation between alexithymia and depression.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Cause of mortality in schizophrenic patients: prospective study of years of a cohort of 150 chronic schizophrenic patients].

UNLABELLED: Overmortality in schizophrenic patients in comparison to the reference population has been found. At the present time this over mortality is mainly due to suicide or certain natural causes such as respiratory, cardio-vascular and cerebro-vascular diseases. In France there are not psychiatric cas registers that could allow us to study the mortality of psychiatric patients. The aim of the study was first to determine the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) in a group of 150 chronic schizophrenics followed during 8 years and secondly to detect the variables that could predict this mortality. METHOD: The subjects filled out the RDC criteria for definite chronic schizophrenia and were included from 1991 to 1995. The subjects were inpatients or outpatients and their evaluation was made by psychiatrist. The subjects were selected from the different departments of two psychiatric hospitals corresponding to two French geographic areas (the Somme and Oise, two French "département"). At the initial assessment socio-demographic, clinical and psychometrical variables were collected: sex, age, educative level, number of hospitalizations, mean duration of the illness, scores on the Physical Anhedonia Scale, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). For the BPRS and PANSS, negative, positive and general subscales were extracted. In May 1999 all the subjects were contacted in order to know if they are alive or not and if they are death to know the date and the causes of their death. For the subjects that were still alive we used either direct assessment by interview of their psychiatrist or general practioner or indirect assessment by interview of their family. For the deceased subjects, we obtained informations about the date and the causes of the death by their psychiatrist or general practioner. If the patients were lost sight of we send a letter to the city of their place of birth in order to know if they are alive or not and if they are dead to know the date of their death. Moreover demographic data concerning the French and the Somme populations as well as the corresponding data concerning the mortality according to age and gender were obtained. A comparison of global mortality between patients and the French general or the Somme populations was made by the SMR. Moreover the deceased subjects and the survivors were compared by unidimensional statistical tests (chi 2 analyses for qualitative variables or Student's t test for quantitative variables) for the sociodemographic, clinical or psychometric variables. For each significant difference at p level < or = 0.05, the corresponding variable was retained for a multivariate step by step discriminant analysis. RESULTS: We found 13 deaths (10 males, 3 females): 3 suicides, 3 cardiac diseases, 2 cancers, 1 respiratory disease, 1 car crash, 1 homicide, 1 infectious disease, 1 respiratory arrest. The mortality rate (without correction for age) were 1.08% for both sexes, 1.44% and 0.6% for males and females respectively. The mortality rates (corrected for age) were 2.47% in our cohort and 0.988% in the Somme population. The corresponding SMR was 2.5. (chi 2 = 3.15, df = 1, p < 0.01). The overmortality was found only for males (chi 2 = 2.57, df = 1, p < 0.01) and not for females (chi 2 = 0.034, df = 1, p > 0.05). Concerning the comparisons between the deceased subjects and the survivors, there were five significant differences: gender, age, duration of the illness, neuroleptic dosage, negative symptoms (BPRS negative subscale). The deceased subjects were older, there was more men, the duration of the illness and the neuroleptic dosage were higher and the BPRS negative subscale was lower. These five variables were introduced in the discriminant analysis to explore notably their respecting weight. The corresponding power of the five variables were in decreasing order: neuroleptic dosage, negative symptoms, age, gender, duration of the illness. DISCUSSION: Our study confirm the overmortality in schizophrenic patients, this overmortality was especially explained by natural and non natural causes of death. The overmortality concerned only schizophrenic males patients whereas schizophrenic females did not have an overmortality. This negative result could be explain by a bias selection, the males being overrepresented in our cohort. Among the variables that were linked to the overmortality, the low level of negative symptomatology confirmed previous studies that have shown a low suicide rate in deficit schizophrenic. Moreover a high level of positive symptomatology could lead to high risk behaviors (suicide attempts, sexual disinhibition...). The neuroleptic dosage was the variable whom discriminate power was the highest. At least two explanations can be proposed. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Adaptation and French validation of physical anhedonia scale: PAS (Chapman and Chapman, 1978)].

This work presents the validation of the French version of the Physical Anhedonia Scale (PAS). The scale's validity, fidelity and reliability were studied in two groups: 61 normal subjects, 61 subjects who met RDC criteria for major depressive disorder. The internal consistency and reliability were determined by the Kuder-Richardson coefficient (KR 20) which values were 0.7 in the control group and 0.83 in the depressed group. The internal consistency was also studied by the correlation between each item and the PAS total score using the point biserial coefficient. 54 items on 61 showed a significant correlation coefficient which ranged from 0.18 to 0.59. For the concurrent validity we studied the correlation (Pearson correlation coefficient) between the PAS and the French version of the Fawcett-Clark Pleasure Capacity Scale (FCPCS). The values were -0.31 (p = 0.014) in the control group and -0.53 (p = 0.00001) in the depressed group. These values show the degree of correlation between the two measures of anhedonia. The French version of the PAS is reliable and allow us to study the physical anhedonia in psychopathology.

Adaptation, Psychological↗