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The validity of diagnostic systems for common mental disorders: a comparison between the ID-CATEGO and the DSM-III systems.

It is argued that latent trait analysis provides a way of examining the construct validity of diagnostic concepts which are used to categorize common mental illnesses. The present study adds two additional aspects of validity using multiple discriminant analysis applied to two widely used taxonomic systems. Scales of anxiety and depression derived from previous latent trait analyses are applied to individuals reaching criteria for 'caseness' on the ID-CATEGO system and the DSM-III system, both at initial diagnosis and six months later. The first multiple discriminant analysis is carried out on the initial scale scores, and the results are interpreted in terms of concurrent validity. The second analysis uses improvement scores on the two scales and relates to predictive validity. It is argued that the ID-CATEGO system provides a better classification for common mental illnesses than the DSM-III system, since it allows a better discrimination to be made between anxiety and depressive disorders.

Adjustment Disorders↗

Altered platelet monoamine oxidase activity in affective disorders.

Platelet MAO activity was found to be elevated in primary depressive illness, and the severity to correlate positively with MAO activity. The reactive depression subgroup's mean platelet MAO activity was not significantly different from that of the controls. The endogenous group's unipolar and bipolar subgroups had significantly different platelet MAO activity, respectively high and low. The differences in MAO activity between unipolar and bipolar patients appeared to persist in the well state, but not after lithium carbonate therapy. These differences in MAO activity were apparent with the substrate tyramine but not with benzylamine. Altered MAO activity in patients with affective disorders may be determined through genetic mechanisms.

Adjustment Disorders↗

[Reversible cerebral ischemia: psychological reactions to the disease].

Two different psychological tests were applied to 40 patients affected by reversible cerebral ischemic attacks in order to evaluate the presence of depression or neurotic symptoms. 40 normal volunteers were used as a control group. While no statistical differences emerged in the mean values of the control tests, significant psychological impairments were observed in the group of patients. Such psychological disturbances were marked in the series with minor neurological deficits. Similar reactions were noted in subjects still employed and in patients submitted to carotid surgery. The authors emphasize the importance of psychological reactions following organic disease for a better therapy in reversible cerebrovascular disorders.

Adjustment Disorders↗

[Effectiveness of psychoanalytically founded brief and dynamic psychotherapy].

OBJECTIVES: This study has been designed to investigate the effectivity of psychodynamic therapies. METHODS: In a naturalistic prospective longitudinal study, 117 patients are compared with 116 untreated probands. RESULTS: The improvement of the general psychosocial impairment of patients of clinical relevance and significance. The effective magnitude of change is high. Untreated patients show on the average no remission of impaired well-being and symptoms six months later. CONCLUSION: Analytically orientated short-term psychotherapy and dynamic psychotherapy are effective in the treatment of many dysthymic and anxiety disorders as well as in the treatment of a number of personality disorders.

Adjustment Disorders↗

The relative influences of symptoms, insight, and neurocognition on social adjustment in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.

Impaired insight and neurocognitive deficits are commonly seen in schizophrenia. No study to date, however, has documented the relative influences of insight deficits, neurocognitive functioning, and psychotic symptoms on overall social adjustment in this population. This was done in a cohort of individuals recovering from acute exacerbations. Forty-six individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were recruited upon discharge from an inpatient unit. Symptom levels, neurocognitive functioning (information processing, memory, and executive functioning), and symptom awareness were documented, and social adjustment was assessed in three domains: treatment compliance, social behavior, and subjective quality of life. Cross-sectional data from initial assessments are reported. Sequential linear regression analyses identified differential associations between illness characteristics and outcome domains. Treatment compliance was most influenced by insight; social behavior deficits were associated with thought disorder and neurocognitive (working memory and visuo-spatial) impairments; and quality of life was associated with mood disturbances. Outcome is multidimensional in schizophrenia, and there are differential patterns of associations between illness characteristics and domains of social adjustment. Studies such as this can guide clinicians in determining the most appropriate treatments for specific individuals and should also guide researchers in efforts to clarify the processes that underlie treatment response and recovery in schizophrenia.

Adult↗

Psychopathology of alcoholics during withdrawal and early abstinence.

Epidemiologic surveys show a high lifetime co-morbidity with psychiatric disorders (e.g., depression and anxiety) in alcoholics. However, alcoholics frequently complained about psychopathologic symptoms, particularly during alcohol withdrawal. There is some evidence that symptomatology decreases spontaneously with prolonged abstinence. Thus, the question arises whether high levels of psychopathology could be accounted for by withdrawal effects. This study was aimed at examining the impact of the alcohol withdrawal severity (assessed by the AWS scale) on psychopathologic symptoms. The psychopathologic profile of 110 alcoholics as measured by the Symptom Checklist-90 revised (SCL-90-R) was compared to that of 253 patients with adjustment, anxiety or depressive disorders (according to ICD-10 criteria). No relationship between the severity of alcohol withdrawal and psychopathology could be found which might hint at two different neurobiological processes underlying these phenomena. The comparison with patients suffering from depression or anxiety disorders revealed that the global symptom severity of alcoholics undergoing withdrawal was similar, but recovery was achieved more rapidly than in the other groups. On the other hand, the self-rated psychopathologic symptom profile of alcoholics was rather similar to that of patients with adjustment disorders. While about one-quarter of the alcoholics reported severe psychopathology on admission, only about 10% showed symptomatology at discharge about three weeks later, predominantly depression or anxiety. These results underline the notion that much of the psychopathology described by alcoholics decreases within 2-3 weeks after withdrawal without specific treatment.

Acute Disease↗

Quality-adjusted health status in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.

This study evaluated the quality-adjusted health status in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In a cross-sectional study veterans diagnosed with PTSD completed a quality-adjusted health status measure (Quality of Well-Being Self-Administered [QWB-SA] scale), PTSD symptom severity measures (Mississippi Scale for Combat-Related PTSD and Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale), and a depression severity measure (Beck Depression Inventory). Significant inverse relationships were identified between the QWB-SA and PTSD severity measures as well as between the QWB-SA and depression severity measures in this sample. Demonstration of these relationships suggests that greater symptom severity is associated with lower quality-adjusted health status in veterans with PTSD. More importantly, the QWB-SA was designed for use in cost-effectiveness analyses and may be useful in assessing the relative value of PTSD interventions compared with other mental and physical health interventions.

Combat Disorders↗

Specific vs nonspecific factors in psychotherapy. A controlled study of outcome.

This study explored the relative contribution of the therapist's technical skills and the qualities inherent in any good human relationship to outcome in time-limited individual psychotherapy. Highly experienced psychotherapists treated 15 patients drawn from a relatively homogeneous patient population (male college students, selected primarily on the basis of elevations on the depression, anxiety, and social introversion scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory). By traditional diagnostic categories, they would be classified as neurotic depression or anxiety reactions. Obsessional trends and borderline personalities were common. A comparable patient group was treated by college professors chosen for their ability to form understanding relationships. Patients treated by professors showed, on the average, as much improvement as patients treated by professional therapists. Treated groups slightly exceeded the controls. Group means, however, obscured considerable individual variability.

Adjustment Disorders↗

The Zurich study. III. Diagnosis of depression.

A 23- to 24-year-old age group representative of the general population of the Canton of Zurich, was used to detect depression. The classifications obtained by means of the Feighner, RDC and DSM-III criteria are compared with our own concept, which differs in some aspects. A minimum of 2 weeks of depression is labeled as EDE (extensive depressive episode). Instead of the presence of a minimum number of depressive symptoms, social impairment at work is first examined as a case-defining criterion (EDE[WORK]); in a second step, a diagnostic threshold of three, and five, depressive symptoms for males and females respectively is adopted (EDE[SYM]). The consequences are presented relating to prevalence, incidence, sex distribution, overlap with other diagnostic concepts, severity, bipolarity and family history. An unequal sex distribution in depression is shown to be an artifact of definition. Preference should go to a case-definition that could be specifically adapted to a given problem. On the whole, the DSM-III and EDE(WORK) criteria appear to be too broad. We will henceforth prefer the RDC and EDE(SYM) criteria, which both, however, necessitate further methodological and empirical study.

Adjustment Disorders↗

Prevalence and constituency of behavioral disturbance taxonomies in the regular school population.

The Bristol Social Adjustment Guides (BSAG) are widely employed in research and in the identification of maladjustment in school children. The BSAG provides scores on several indices including five homogeneous behavioral syndromes and one associated grouping. Field experience suggests that maladjusted children frequently manifest problems in more than one syndrome. In order to discover what patterns of syndromic profiles may commonly exist among children, the data for the most recent revision of the BSAG are reanalyzed. The syndrome scores for all 2,527 5- to 15-year-old regular school children in the standardization sample were grouped into similar profile patterns by hierarchical cluster analysis. Sixteen homogeneous syndromic profile types emerged. The resultant profiles types were described on the basis of their component behaviors and examined for membership trends by sex and age groups. Multiple syndromic profiles represented 60% of all maladjusted children.

Adjustment Disorders↗

Neurocognitive, social, and emotional dysfunction in deficit syndrome schizophrenia.

The deficit syndrome is a promising distinction within schizophrenia that requires further validation. This study examined the replicability of differences in clinical symptoms, neurocognitive functioning, affect perception, and social functioning previously reported among deficit (n=15) and nondeficit syndrome (n=30) schizophrenia patients classified according to the Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome (SDS; Psychiatry Res. 30 (1989) 119) and nonpatient controls (n=41). Additionally, participants completed self-report affective trait measures of positive affectivity, negative affectivity, and social anhedonia to examine the deficit syndrome concept of diminished emotional range. We were able to replicate symptom profiles and neurocognitive and social functioning impairments in deficit vs. nondeficit patients, but did not find more severe affect perception impairment in deficit vs. nondeficit patients as previously reported. Regarding range of subjectively experienced emotion, deficit patients reported lower trait positive affectivity and marginally higher social anhedonia than nondeficit patients and controls, but also reported elevations in negative affectivity that were similar to nondeficit patients as compared to controls. While replication of patterns of impairment across multiple domains of functioning supports the validity of the deficit syndrome, results also suggest that SDS-defined deficit patients may be characterized by a relative reduction in the tendency or ability to experience positive emotions, rather than a pervasive diminution in the range of emotional experience.

Adjustment Disorders↗

Coping with refugees. A Canadian experience: 1948-1981.

Clinical and field studies of five successive refugee groups to Canada over the past 32 years are summarised. A consistent pattern of behaviour among refugees of different cultural background is described. The concept of Social Displacement Syndrome is reviewed and discussed from the perspective of the refugee recipient society. The early stages of the natural history of resettlement are seen as a series of predictable behaviour patterns of Refugees and Helpers. Some general principles are assigned for the study of refugee situation, of relevance to the development of specific personal and social support systems and to practical social psychiatric research.

Acculturation↗

The psychodiagnostic value of children's earliest memories.

Examined the early memories of 94 boys, aged 8 through 11, with varying levels of psychopathology. Via a newly developed early memory scoring system, subjects were classified according to degree of presenting psychopathology at a highly significant level. The scoring system classifications were also more accurate than those made by experienced clinicians. The importance of scoring system structural variables in making adjustment/maladjustment decisions was emphasized.

Adjustment Disorders↗

Improving sequence alignments for intrinsically disordered proteins.

Here we analyze sequence alignments for intrinsically disordered proteins. For 55 disordered protein families we measure the performance of different scoring matrices and propose one adjusted to disordered regions. An iterative algorithm of realigning sequences and recalculating matrices is designed and tested. For each matrix we also test a wide range of gap penalties. Results show an improvement in the ability to detect and discriminate related disordered proteins whose average sequence identity with the other family members is below 50%.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Social skill deficiencies associated with depressed mood of mentally retarded adults.

Specific social skill deficiencies associated with depressed mood were identified in a group of 45 mentally retarded adults with mixed or no psychiatric diagnoses. Self-report and informant-rated measures of social skills, social support, and depressed mood were obtained. One set of results replicated previous findings that high levels of depressed mood are associated with poor social skills and low levels of social support. Another set of findings identified 30 social skill deficits associated with depressed mood. We found that the retarded subjects with depressed mood were withdrawn and interacted less with others and that their social interactions were more inappropriate and ineffective. Some instances of antisocial behavior might be motivated by depressed mood.

Adjustment Disorders↗