Delusional depression--a distinct illness?
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Antidepressive Agents↗
Biomedical subjects
H J Haug
Publications and source records attributed to H J Haug.
Comparison between types of diurnal variations as determined by global assessment and daily recordings of mood.
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Circadian Rhythm↗
A turning point for mood during sleep deprivation therapy--does it exist?
The investigated patients did not demonstrate a common turning point of mood in the night of sleep deprivation therapy. The antidepressant effect of SD does not occur before the end of the night of SD. No critical period for changes of mood between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. were found. Retrospective interviews of patients concerning the completed night of SD are problematic.
Adult↗
[3H] UK-14,304, a new agonist ligand of alpha 2-adrenoceptors: a comparative study with human and rat tissue.
[3H] UK-14,304 was used to investigate alpha 2-adrenoceptors in rat brain and human platelets. Receptor pharmacology revealed that the ligand binds with high affinity to alpha 2-adrenoceptors. Psychoactive substances like neuroleptics, antidepressants, and beta-carbolines displace [3H] UK-14,304 from its binding sites in the lower micromolar range. A Hill number around 2 for most neuroleptics suggests a positive cooperativity with the alpha 2-adrenoceptors. Comparative studies with [3H] UK-14,304 and [3H] clonidine utilizing platelet membranes from human volunteers demonstrated that the former ligand is more suitable to investigate possible changes of alpha 2-adrenoceptors; [3H] UK-14,304 labels more receptors with a lower standard deviation, whereby the volume of the blood sample amounted to 35 ml instead of 50 ml required for [3H] clonidine as ligand. No sex differences of binding constants were detected, however an inverse correlation of maximum number of binding sites and affinity was found for female subjects with both ligands. No age-dependent changes of Bmax and KD-values were observed in the range of 24 to 59 years.
Adult↗
Clinical experience with the neuroleptic zotepine--first results.
The few patients examined in the pilot study so far lead us to believe that the new neuroleptic drug zotepine is a substance with good antipsychotic effectiveness. Among the side-effects, a marked sedative component is apparent which is perceived as being unpleasant by all patients due to its expression in the form of drowsiness and lack of vitality during the day. Here, problems with patient compliance may possibly arise. Extrapyramidal motor side-effects could not be observed except in one case in which therapy was consequently terminated. The changes observed in the EEG were interpreted as an increase in cerebral excitability, an effect known to be possible in connection with the administration of neuroleptic drugs. Altogether, on the basis of our first clinical experience with the new neuroleptic zotepine, we feel that this drug doses not yield a marked improvement in regard to the ratio of effect to side-effect when compared with the other neuroleptic drugs available at the present time. Our findings, however, tend to support suggestions in the literature that zotepine may have a better effect than other drugs on patients' negative symptoms.
Adult↗
Long-term follow-up of depression in seasonal affective disorder.
Twenty-six patients diagnosed as having seasonal affective disorder (SAD) completed weekly depression self-ratings for at least 2.5 and up to 8.25 years. Seasonal recurrence of depression persisted in nine patients, seven remitted, four were chronically depressed, and six showed a diffuse pattern. The age at SAD onset and duration of SAD history before entry into this prospective study could not be identified as predictors of the subsequent course of the disease. Short-lasting, recurrent periods of depression could be identified in many of the long-term records. They were found primarily in autumn and winter in patients with either a persistent seasonal or a remitted pattern. In the core group of patients with persistent seasonal pattern, the onset and offset of depressive periods (DPs) were more variable than the DSM-III-R 60-day window criterion for seasonal pattern allows.
Adult↗
Are there distinct biochemical subtypes of depression? EEG characteristics of clinically defined on-drug responders and non-responders.
Subgroups of clinically defined responders and non-responders to clomipramine or maprotiline showed different electroencephalographic dynamics of vigilance, even before pharmacotherapy was initiated. Two hours after the first drug administration subgroup differences no longer existed. On the 21st day of medication we found a tendency towards re-establishing the pre-drug situation. Our findings lend support to the assumption of 'distinct biochemical subtypes' which, however, rather correspond to different stages of the pathophysiological process than represent invariant 'traits'.
Adult↗
Dissociative symptoms in schizophrenic patients with positive and negative symptoms.
Given the close historical relationship between schizophrenia and dissociative disorders, namely multiple personality disorder, we assessed 27 ICD-10 diagnosed schizophrenic inpatients for dissociative symptoms using the German version of the Dissociative Experience Scale and compared them to a nonclinical control group matched for gender and age. Other self-report instruments covering general psychopathology, and an expert rating on the predominance of positive or negative schizophrenic symptoms, were also administered. Schizophrenic patients have significantly more dissociative symptoms than controls. Moreover, patients with a plus type of schizophrenia show significantly higher levels of dissociation than patients mainly exhibiting less productive symptoms. However, dissociative phenomena are only significantly correlated with delusions and hallucinatory behavior, and do not show any correlation with other positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Severe dissociative psychopathology is also associated with impairment in other psychopathological dimensions. The implications of these findings are discussed with regard to the theory of dissociation, the differential diagnosis between schizophrenia and dissociative disorders and a possible contribution of dissociative phenomenology to the clinical heterogeneity of schizophrenia.
Adult↗