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R J Haier

Publications and source records attributed to R J Haier.

53 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Psychopathology: biological approaches.

The current state of the biological approaches to psychopathology is chaotic; no markers have been accepted despite the fact that dozens have resulted in promising, if not dramatic, results. Under the current requirement for diagnostic specificity, we suspect that no marker will ever be accepted. As we have suggested, research using alternative views of diagnosis, vulnerability, and heterogeneity may hold greater promise for the 1980s. Psychiatric diagnosis will be metamorphosized by research shifting the biological marker from dependent variable to independent criterion. New diagnostic categories may be created around marker rather than symptom variables. This could lead to new labels for old familiar and perhaps pejorative categories. Similarly, treatment would be aimed at understanding specific brain dysfunction of each distressed individual. This would be done with laboratory tests of neurotransmitter, neuroendocrine, and metabolic function. Psychophysiological and psychological testing would complete such an evaluation. The response would be an individualized combination of somatic and nonsomatic treatment. At the present time, several markers are just at the edge between research tools and clinical usefulness (see review by Uytdenhoef et al 1982); new strategies may bring one or more into clinical practice. Finally, the use of markers in relatives or even the general population will open new opportunities for prevention in vulnerable individuals.

Adoption↗
PubMed1983

Neuropsychological characteristics of college males who show attention dysfunction.

400 male college students were screened on a measure of vigilance, the Continuous Performance Test. A Good Attention Group (upper 5% of the CPT score distribution) and a Poor Attention Group (lower 5%) were selected and compared on a series of perceptual and motor tests. The Good Attention Group was superior to the Poor Attention Group on most of the measures. The largest differences were found on tests assessing perceptual-motor organization. Attention dysfunction in this non-patient sample seems to be associated with performance deficits. Over-all, the pattern of neuropsychological results seen in the Poor Attention Group is not similar to the pattern seen in patients with lateralized brain damage but appears more similar to that seen in those with bilateral and diffuse cortical damage.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Smooth pursuit eye tracking impairment: relation to other 'markers' of schizophrenia and psychologic correlates.

Smooth pursuit eye tracking impairment has been observed in the major psychoses, particularly schizophrenia. To understand better the relationship of smooth pursuit disruption to personality dispositions linked to psychiatric syndromes and to two other "marker variables" associated with psychosis (low platelet monoamine oxidase [MAO] activity and poor performance on the continuous performance task [CPT]), we studied the psychologic, biochemical, and psychophysiologic correlates of impaired smooth pursuit tracking in two nonpsychiatric patient populations. One sample consisted of 67 volunteers screened for extreme values in a distribution of platelet MAO activities, and the second included 29 volunteers screened for extreme scores on the CPT. An aggregate of about 5% of both samples showed clearly dysfunctional smooth pursuit. Eye tracking dysfunction did not seem to be related to either MAO or CPT performance in either study. Both studies were consistent in showing that subjects with impaired smooth pursuit eye tracking had a psychologic profile characterized particularly by social introversion.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Sensitivity and specificity of 1 and 2 mg dexamethasone suppression tests.

Sensitivity and specificity rates for 1 and 2 mg dexamethasone suppression tests (DSTs) are compared in 119 psychiatric inpatients diagnosed by DSM-III criteria. No differences are apparent between 1 and 2 mg groups. Moreover, combining a variety of affective disorders does not change the rates from those obtained using major depression alone. These data do not support a previous study which suggested that, compared to a 2 mg DST, a 1 mg test increases sensitivity without diminishing specificity. Nonsuppression appears to identify a subgroup of patients that cuts across several DSM-III categories.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Psychiatric vulnerability, monoamine oxidase, and the average evoked potential.

College students in two separate studies had platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity determinations and average evoked potential (AEP) measurements taken. On the basis of Minnesota Muliphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) or Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) evaluations, psychopathology, particularly affective disorder, was found to be more prevalent among both persons with the combination of low MAO activity and AEP augmenting and those with high MAO activity and AEP reducing. The same pattern is apparent whether students were selected for extremely high or low MAO activity (study 1) or for elevated or normal MMPI scores (study 2). Some psychiatric patient groups also show this pattern. An interactive model of sensation-seeking and sensory inhibition is presented.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

An 18-month followup of students biologically at risk for psychiatric problems.

A prospective investigation using platelet monoamine oxidase activity and cortical evoked response augmenting/reducing to predict the onset of new episodes of affective disorders was conducted in a college sample. During an 18-month period between clinical interviews, higher incidences of major depression and hypomania characterized the low MAO/aociated with affective psychopathology in the original retrospective study.

Bipolar Disorder↗
PubMed1980

The diagnosis of schizophrenia: a review of recent developments.

Empirical research on the diagnosis of schizophrenia during the late 1970s is reviewed. This period covers work carried out just before the introduction of DSM-III. Two trends are apparent. First, the concept of schizophrenia is narrowing as a result of a decreased emphasis on "classic" schizophrenic symptoms, an increased reliance on affective symptoms as more diagnostically useful, a shift toward classifying schizoaffective disorder as more similar to affective diagnoses, and an increase in the use of explicitly defined operational criteria derived with an emphasis on reliability. Second, the concept of schizophrenia as a unitary disease is diminishing. Heterogeneity is becoming a focus of study, and biological variables may define subtypes. As definition and reliability have been the nosological problems of the 1970s, subtyping and comparative validity among diagnostic systems may be the problems for the 1980s.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1980

A symptom schedule for the diagnosis of borderline schizophrenia: a first report.

The concepts of 'borderline' and 'borderline schizophrenia' remain a confusing area in psychiatry. In its functional use, the word 'borderline' refers to a hypothesized level of functioning on a continuum which extends from normality to psychosis, e.g. borderline personality organization. In the phenomenological use 'borderline' qualifies a psychiatric diagnosis, referring to a milder form of the disease process, e.g. borderline schizophrenia. In this paper we attempted to define and validate the concept of borderline schizophrenia using case records from the Danish Adoption study with this diagnosis and rating the cases on a new instrument: the Symptom Schedule for the Diagnosis of Borderline Schizophrenia, found reliable, and discriminating cases of borderline schizophrenia from cases of neurosis and personality disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Extreme MMPI scores and the Research Diagnostic Criteria. Screening college men for psychopathology.

This study compares psychiatric evaluations made with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality inventory (MMPI) to evaluations with a standard clinical interview and the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC). The purpose was to generate a nonhospitalized, previously undiagnosed sample of persons who had psychiatric difficulties or symptoms. Of 385 college male volunteers, 56 with scores at least 3 SD above the mean on at least one MMPI scale were chosen as an index group, and 27, with all MMPI scores within normal limits, as a control group. In the index group, 82% met the RDC for at least one diagnosis, whereas only 22% of the control sample met the RDC for any diagnosis. One index subject met the RDC for schizophrenia; 15 met the RDC for a major affective disorder. Some correspondence between specific MMPI profile code types and RDC diagnoses was evident. Thus, researchers can identify a range of psychopathology meeting the RDC by using MMPI screening in a nonhospital setting. Such a research sample, free from the possible artifacts of hospitalization, drug treatment, and diagnostic labeling, can be useful particularly in testing hypotheses concerning the biological correlates of psychopathology.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Paranoia and platelet MAO in normals and nonschizophrenic psychiatric groups.

The authors compared the correlation between platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity and the Paranoia (Pa) scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory in several groups. The data suggest that there is a positive association between high MAO activity and high scores on the Pa scale but only in samples with psychopathology.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1978

MMPI assessment of psychopathology in the adopted-away offspring of schizophrenics.

Previous studies completed in Denmark show a higher frequency of schizophrenia-related psychopathology in the adopted offspring of schizophrenics than in matched controls. This study adds a psychometric dimension to the earlier reports with an analysis of psychopathology in the adopted offspring of schizophrenics based on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). A combination of MMPI criteria and interview-based diagnosis identifies 22% of the index cases and 6% of the control cases (P less than .01) as having a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. The findings support a genetic hypothesis, but the use of the MMPI does not fully clarify some issues raised in the earlier reports.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Suicide attempts, platelet monoamine oxidase and the average evoked response.

The relationship between suicides and suicide attempts and two biological measures, platelet monoamine oxidase levels (MAO) and average evoked response (AER) augmenting, was examined in 79 off-medication psychiatric patients and in 68 college student volunteers chosen from the upper and lower deciles of MAO activity levels. In the patient sample, male individuals with low MAO and AER augmenting, a pattern previously associated with bipolar affective disorders, showed a significantly increased incidence of suicide attempts in comparison with either non-augmenting low MAO or high MAO patients. Within the normal volunteer group, all male low MAO probands with a family history of suicide or suicide attempts were AER augmenters themselves. Four completed suicides were found among relatives of low MAO probands where as no high MAO proband had a relative who committed suicide. These findings suggest that the combination of low platelet MAO activity and AER augmenting may be associated with a possible genetic vulnerability to psychiatric disorders.

Adult↗