Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Z Kaplan

Publications and source records attributed to Z Kaplan.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

Inositol has behavioral effects with adaptation after chronic administration.

Inositol is a simple dietary polyol that serves as a precursor in important second messenger systems. Inositol in pharmacological doses has been reported recently to be therapeutic in depression, panic disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. We hereby report effects of inositol on the elevated plus maze model of anxiety. These results should allow development of new inositol analogs that could expand psychoactive drug development possibilities via second messenger manipulation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1997

Posttraumatic stress disorder, tenderness and fibromyalgia.

The aims of the present study were to inquire into the prevalence of fibromyalgia syndrome, to assess nonarticular tenderness, to measure fibromyalgia syndrome-related symptoms, quality of life, and functional impairment among posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients as compared with control subjects. Furthermore, the differences between the PTSD patients with and without fibromyalgia syndrome were studied. Twenty-nine PTSD patients and 37 control subjects were assessed as to the diagnosis of fibromyalgia syndrome according to the American College of Rheumatology. Tenderness was assessed manually and with a dolorimeter. Fibromyalgia syndrome-related symptoms, quality of life, physical functioning, PTSD symptomatology, and psychiatric features were assessed by valid and reliable self-report inventories. Results showed that the prevalence of fibromyalgia syndrome in the PTSD group was 21% vs. 0% in the control group. Furthermore, the PTSD group was more tender than the control group. PTSD subjects suffering from fibromyalgia syndrome were more tender, reported more pain, lower quality of life, higher functional impairment and suffered more psychological distress than the PTSD patients not having fibromyalgia syndrome. It is suggested that previous reports on diffuse pain in PTSD in fact described undiagnosed fibromyalgia syndrome. The link between psychological stress and pain syndromes is emphasized.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1996

Violence in hospitalized psychiatric patients: diurnal and seasonal patterns.

The use of four-point physical restraints on a single occasion or repeatedly in psychiatric inpatients was followed prospectively during 1993 in Beer Sheva Mental Health Center. Mood-disordered patients had significantly more restraints per patient than did schizophrenic and schizoaffective patients. The monthly rates of restraints of mood-disordered and schizophrenic patients were found to be negatively correlated with the duration of the daily photoperiod, which was phase-advanced by a month. The findings suggest that seasonality (the duration of the daily photoperiod) should be taken into account in attempts to predict the potential dangerousness of psychiatric patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Type of trauma, severity of posttraumatic stress disorder core symptoms, and associated features.

Sixty-six persons with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exposed to battlefield experience, civilian terrorism, and work and traffic accidents were studied to assess the differential outcome of the various types of trauma as measured by PTSD core symptoms and associated features of depression, anxiety, interpersonal sensitivity, and somatization. The participants were assessed on a PTSD scale, Impact of Events Scale, and four Symptom Check List subscales. The results showed that the battle-experience group was more severely affected than the other groups. Time elapsed since the trauma was significantly positively correlated to PTSD core symptoms and associated features. Only the time elapsed since the trauma-not the division into type of trauma groups-was significantly correlated with severity. Education and army rank were found to be protecting variables.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1994

Behavioral evidence for the existence of two pools of cellular inositol.

Lithium reduces brain inositol levels by inhibiting inositol monophosphatase. In a previous study it was found that administration of pilocarpine to Li-treated rats causes limbic seizure behavior which can be reversed by i.c.v. myo-inositol but not chiro-inositol, suggesting that this behavior is related to inositol depletion in the PI cycle. Hyponatremia can lower brain inositol and hypernatremia can raise brain inositol. We now report that induction of low brain inositol by hyponatremia followed by pilocarpine did not cause limbic seizures. Induction of high brain inositol using hypernatremia followed by Li-pilocarpine administration did not reverse limbic seizures. These data support the concept that inositol available for P1 synthesis and inositol for osmotic function are sequestered in different cellular pools.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Adjustment disorder of conscripts as a military phobia.

Conscription entails many adjustment difficulties for the young soldier. When anxiety is sufficiently severe to impair performance and make discharge a possibility, a brief course of cognitive-behavioral therapy can rapidly restore the soldier to full functioning. This article explains the theoretical basis for such an approach, and describes three cases.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1994

Compulsive exhibitionism successfully treated with fluvoxamine: a controlled case study.

BACKGROUND: Paraphilias are psychosexual disorders that are usually conceptualized as deviant in nature. Yet in some cases, paraphilia can be conceptualized as an obsessive compulsive disorder. METHOD: We describe an exhibitionist treated under partial single-blind conditions (patient was blind to placebo but was aware he was receiving desipramine and fluvoxamine) with the serotonin selective reuptake inhibitor fluvoxamine, followed by desipramine and a placebo that looked like fluvoxamine, in an ABACA design. He was serially assessed with the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale. RESULTS: Fluvoxamine eliminated the undesired impulse and behavior without affecting sexual desire. Desipramine and single-blind fluvoxamine-placebo treatment were both associated with relapses. CONCLUSION: A subset of paraphiliacs may be suffering from obsessive-compulsive-related disorders and may benefit from serotonergic agents.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

A unique monthly distribution of suicide and parasuicide through firearms among Israeli soldiers.

The monthly distribution of completed suicide and parasuicide by Israeli soldiers was analyzed during the 7-year period of 1984-1990. Although parasuicide in general showed a constant incidence throughout the year, the monthly rate of suicide as well as parasuicide through firearms varied during the year in a similar way. The seasonal pattern of completed suicides, the vast majority of which occur with firearms, was correlated with the seasonal pattern of parasuicides through firearms. The combined variability of the two seasonal patterns was found to be significantly different from a pattern of a constant monthly incidence with a peak in December and a nadir in October. The monthly incidence of suicide and parasuicide through firearms was found to be negatively correlated with the duration of the daily photoperiod, when the latter was phase-advanced by 1-2 months. This unique pattern of seasonal incidence of suicide and parasuicide through firearms is different from most of the patterns reported in the Northern Hemisphere.

Firearms↗
PubMed1993

Clomipramine treatment of obsessive compulsive symptomatology in schizophrenic patients.

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenic patients with obsessive compulsive symptoms have poor prognoses. Clomipramine is an effective antiobsessional agent, but its possible antiobsessional effect in schizophrenic patients with obsessive compulsive symptoms who are taking neuroleptics has not been studied. METHOD: We conducted an open pilot study in which we added clomipramine to ongoing neuroleptic regimens of five chronic DSM-III-R schizophrenic (N = 3) or schizoaffective (N = 2) patients who were consecutively admitted for treatment during an active phase. Clomipramine treatment was subsequently discontinued in two patients (off-on-off design), whereas it was discontinued and then reinstituted in three patients (off-on-off-on design). RESULTS: All five patients had substantial reductions in previously persistent obsessive compulsive symptoms, and all experienced relapse of their obsessive compulsive symptoms after clomipramine treatment cessation. In the three patients for whom the authors were able to reinstitute clomipramine, an improvement in obsessive compulsive symptoms was noticed once again. Only one patient had an exacerbation of her psychosis with the combined treatment. CONCLUSION: The addition of clomipramine, a serotonin reuptake blocker, to ongoing neuroleptic treatment in schizophrenic patients with obsessive compulsive symptoms was associated with specific reductions of those symptoms. Further studies of antiobsessional agents in selected schizophrenic patients appear warranted.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Clinicians' assessments of suicide risk: can self-report measures replace the experts?

This study examined the possibility of using standardized self-report measures as "stand-ins" for clinicians' assessments of suicide risk. Subjects were 252 new applicants to a military mental health clinic who completed a battery of questionnaires and underwent clinical interviews. The self-report measures of psychiatric symptomatology (general and depression), personality (impulsivity, anger), and cognitions (hopelessness, attitudes toward life and death) were not highly correlated with clinicians' assessments of suicide risk and some showed a non-linear association. These findings suggest that the two methods of assessment are not interchangeable and that clinicians base their assessments of suicide risk, at least in part, on factors not assessed by the above questionnaires.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Is there a place for paradoxical "maneuvers" in conventional psychotherapy?

This paper reviews the literature concerning the use and theoretical background of paradoxical maneuvers in conventional psychotherapy. By demonstrating a clinical example we highlight the usefulness of such an approach and the necessity for further research in finding valid indications and contraindications for its use.

Conflict, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

Post-traumatic stress disorder in Israel during the Gulf War.

During the Gulf War, the Unit for the Treatment of Combat Reactions within the Central Military Mental Health Center of the IDF was active in treating soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Of the 72 referrals, all but 2 were cases of a reactivation of a previous stress reaction. The implications for residual vulnerability amongst even apparently remitted cases are discussed in this essay.

Adolescent↗