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Biomedical subjects

R K Pitman

Publications and source records attributed to R K Pitman.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Psychiatric complications during flooding therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder.

The authors use six case vignettes to illustrate underrecognized complications occurring during flooding therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including exacerbation of depression, relapse of alcoholism, and precipitation of panic disorder. A common denominator to the majority of these cases appears to be the mobilization of negative posttrauma appraisal, accompanied by shame, guilt, and anger. The authors suggest that flooding may not be helpful for these negative emotions in the manner that it is for anxiety. Suggestions for preventing and treating complications of flooding therapy for PTSD include employing more cognitive forms of therapy in cases at risk; supporting abstinence from alcohol and other substances; providing adjunctive pharmacologic treatment as indicated, e.g., tricyclics for depression or panic; and providing long-term follow-up.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1990

Naloxone-reversible analgesic response to combat-related stimuli in posttraumatic stress disorder. A pilot study.

We tested the hypothesis that exposure to a stimulus resembling the original traumatic event would induce naloxone-reversible analgesia in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Eight medication-free Vietnam veterans with PTSD and eight veterans without PTSD, matched for age and combat severity, viewed a 15-minute videotape of dramatized combat under naloxone hydrochloride and placebo conditions in a randomized double-blind crossover design. In the placebo condition, the subjects with PTSD showed a 30% decrease in reported pain intensity ratings of standardized heat stimuli after the combat videotape. No decrease in pain ratings occurred in the subjects with PTSD in the naloxone condition. The subjects without PTSD did not show a decrease in pain ratings in either condition. The results are consistent with the induction of opioid-mediated stress-induced analgesia in the patients with PTSD.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Psychophysiologic responses to combat imagery of Vietnam veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder versus other anxiety disorders.

We used psychophysiologic techniques to assess responses to imagery of psychologically stressful past experiences in medication-free Vietnam combat veterans classified, on the basis of DSM-III-R criteria into posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; n = 7) or non-PTSD anxiety disorder (anxious; n = 7) groups. Scripts describing each individual's combat experiences were recorded and played back in the laboratory. Ss were instructed to imagine the events the scripts portrayed while heart rate, skin conductance, and frontalis electromyogram were recorded. PTSD Ss' physiologic responses were higher than those of anxious Ss. A discriminant function derived from a previous study of PTSD and mentally healthy combat veterans identified 5 of the 7 current PTSD Ss as physiologic responders and all 7 of the anxious Ss as nonresponders. Results of this study replicate and extend results of the previous study and support the validity of PTSD as a separate diagnostic entity.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Psychometric profile of posttraumatic stress disorder, anxious, and healthy Vietnam veterans: correlations with psychophysiologic responses.

Three groups of Vietnam combat veterans, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD, n = 25), anxious (n = 7), and healthy (n = 18), completed a battery of psychometric tests. Measurement of psychophysiologic responses to imagery of individualized combat experiences followed the psychometrics. The PTSD Ss differed significantly from the healthy Ss on almost all measures but showed fewer differences from the anxious Ss. The typical PTSD S was characterized as anxious, depressed, prone to dissociation, and external in locus of control. Correlations with the physiologic responses supported the validity of psychometric scales specifically designed to measure PTSD but cast doubt on the interpretation of traditional measures of overreporting or dissimulation in this disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Animal models of compulsive behavior.

A convergence of clinical and pathological evidence points to the basal ganglia as the site of disturbance in compulsive disorders. However, the limbic system may be implicated as well. This article draws upon various lines of animal research in an attempt to explain how disturbances in one or another of these systems may produce compulsive behavior. Possible models include stimulation of the reinforcement mechanism, manipulation of the striatal "comparator" function, production and blockade of displacement behavior, and interference with the hippocampus' modulation of the stereotypy-inducing effect of reward. The common denominator of these models is a relative excess of dopaminergic activity in the basal ganglia. However, this does not necessarily implicate a primary dopaminergic disturbance in all human compulsive behavior.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder in wounded Vietnam veterans.

Of 156 wounded Vietnam veterans evaluated for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by a questionnaire and a diagnostic interview in selected cases, 40% had a definite or probable lifetime diagnosis of PTSD. Of the 27 interviewed patients with lifetime PTSD, 81% currently met the PTSD criteria.

Combat Disorders↗
PubMed1989

Normal and disordered compulsivity: evidence against a continuum.

Sixteen patients with obsessive compulsive disorder and 16 mentally healthy control subjects of comparable gender, age, and educational level underwent psychometric testing with the Obsessive-Compulsive subscale of the Comprehensive Psychiatric Rating Scale, the Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory, and the Obsessive subscale of the Lazare-Klerman-Armor (LKA) Personality Inventory. An interviewer also rated each subject as positive or negative for each of the five DSM-III elements of compulsive personality disorder. Patients scored significantly higher than controls on all measures except the Obsessive subscale of the LKA Personality Inventory, on which the controls actually scored slightly higher. The authors suggest that the failure of this last instrument to differentiate the subject groups can be interpreted as evidence against a continuum between a certain type of supposed normal personality pattern (obsessive or compulsive) and a corresponding psychopathologic state (obsessive compulsive disorder).

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Endogenous opioids, stress induced analgesia, and posttraumatic stress disorder.

The hypothesis that the animal model of inescapable shock (IES) is an appropriate model for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) predicts that re-exposure to a traumatic stressor will precipitate opioid-mediated stress-induced analgesia in people with PTSD. Eight Vietnam veterans with PTSD and eight matched veterans without PTSD viewed a combat videotape under naloxone and placebo conditions in a randomized double-blind crossover design. In the placebo condition, but not after naloxone, the PTSD subjects reported a 30 percent decrease in pain intensity ratings of standardized heat stimuli after the combat videotape. Point biserial correlations revealed that change in pain perception was the most highly correlated with PTSD of all variables tested, including biochemical, physiological, and self-report. These results suggest that a centrally mediated opioid response to traumatic stimuli is an important feature of PTSD. Possible implications of this finding for the psychobiology of PTSD are discussed.

Endorphins↗
PubMed1989

Psychophysiological investigations of posttraumatic stress disorder imagery.

Physiological responses to self-generated imagery of past traumatic combat experiences were assessed in medication-free Vietnam combat veterans, classified on the basis of DSM-III-R (American Psychiatric Association 1987) criteria into posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD, n = 25), non-PTSD anxiety disorder (Anxious, n = 7), or no-mental-disorder (Healthy, n = 15) groups. "Scripts" describing each subject's combat experiences were read to him in the laboratory, and he was instructed to imagine the events the scripts portrayed, while heart rate, skin conductance, and frontalis electromyogram (EMG) were recorded. PTSD subjects' responses to their combat imagery were significantly higher than those of both control groups. A discriminant analysis identified 64 percent of PTSD subjects as physiological responders, and 100 percent of Anxious and 94 percent of Healthy subjects as nonresponders. A pilot study of imaginal flooding in three PTSD and two Healthy pilot subjects suggested that more prolonged, therapist-assisted imagery might increase the sensitivity of psychophysiological measures to PTSD, and that motor and endocrinological measures might also be of value in characterizing the disorder.

Humans↗
PubMed1988

Coprolalia in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a missing link.

Although recent clinical research has emphasized the relationship between Tourette's syndrome (TS) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), coprolalia, the most dramatic of the TS symptoms, has not been described in DSM-III OCD. The case presented here shows that coprolalia can indeed occur in OCD. This finding further erodes the phenomenological distinction between these two disorders. It also supports the role of psychological factors in the genesis of tic symptomatology.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Pierre Janet on obsessive-compulsive disorder (1903). Review and commentary.

Pierre Janet's classic contribution to the understanding of obsessive-compulsive disorder, Obsessions and Psychasthenia (1903), remains untranslated as well as unappreciated by American psychiatry, despite increasing recognition of the importance of this mental health problem. Herein the work is summarized and discussed. Although it tends to be remembered for its theoretical ideas, most of which have become dated, the most valuable aspect of Obsessions and Psychasthenia is its clinical discoveries. These include the important role played in the disorder by symptoms that are closely related to, but yet cannot properly be called, obsessions and compulsions (the "forced agitations"); the underlying psychasthenic mental state; and the obsessive-compulsive person's specific failure to adapt to reality. Despite the passage of nearly a century, these observations, and Janet's suggestions regarding treatment, are as timely now as when they were made.

Diagnosis, Differential↗
PubMed1987

Psychophysiologic assessment of posttraumatic stress disorder imagery in Vietnam combat veterans.

This study utilized psychophysiologic techniques to assess emotional arousal during imagery of psychologically traumatic experiences. All subjects were medication-free Vietnam combat veterans, classified on the basis of DSM-III-R criteria into groups with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD, n = 18) and no mental disorder (control, n = 15), which did not differ in extent of combat or in the judged severity of the traumatic experiences reported. "Scripts" describing each subject's combat experiences as well as other experiences were read to them in the laboratory, and they were instructed to imagine the events the scripts portrayed, while heart rate, skin conductance, and frontalis electromyogram were recorded. The PTSD subjects' physiologic responses to their combat scripts were markedly higher than the controls'. The combined physiologic variables identified PTSD subjects with a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 61%. The results demonstrate exaggerated physiologic arousal during recollection of traumatic experiences in PTSD.

Adult↗