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Biomedical subjects

B J Holwill

Publications and source records attributed to B J Holwill.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1993

Post-traumatic stress disorder in Australian World War II veterans attending a psychiatric outpatient clinic.

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain the frequency of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in World War II veterans attending a psychiatric outpatient clinic in an Australian veterans' hospital and to compare veterans with and without PTSD according to certain psychological variables. DESIGN: Over a three-month period veterans were assessed at their next appointment by their treating doctors (psychiatrists or psychiatric registrars) for PTSD according to the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-III-R). At the same time they completed two questionnaires and provided information about their war experiences. SETTING: The psychiatric outpatient department at Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, Melbourne. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and twenty World War II veterans attended during the three-month period and 108 (90%) agreed to participate and are included in this study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The treating doctors recorded the presence or absence and severity of veterans' symptoms of PTSD. The General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-60) and the Impact of Events Scale (IES) were then completed by participants under supervision. RESULTS: Forty-nine veterans (45%) were found to have active PTSD 45 years after the war. The presence of PTSD was significantly associated with the taking of casualties (an indicator of severity of war stress as reported by the veterans themselves) and with combat stress as rated by their treating doctors. The veterans with PTSD obtained significantly higher scores on both the GHQ-60 and the IES, and reported no significant reduction in symptoms of PTSD over the preceding 10 years. The presence of both an anxiety and a depressive disorder was substantially and significantly more common in the veterans who had PTSD. CONCLUSION: Overall, the study revealed a high frequency of PTSD and a strong persistence of this condition in psychiatric outpatients who were veterans of World War II.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Role of depressive illness in the outcome of treatment of temporomandibular joint pain-dysfunction syndrome.

The aim of this study was to assess the role of a depressive illness in the outcome of the treatment of patients with temporomandibular joint pain-dysfunction syndrome. One group was considered psychiatrically normal and the other had a concurrent depressive illness. The latter group was subdivided equally to produce three treatment groups: one undergoing occlusal splint therapy, one receiving antidepressant medication, and the third having a combination of occlusal splint and antidepressant therapy. The results showed clearly that there was a significant difference in response in the nonpsychiatric and combined-therapy depressed groups in comparison with the two depressed groups treated either with occlusal splint or with antidepressant therapy. The combined therapy led to resolution of the painful problem and the depression, whereas the single therapies were only partly successful in relieving the pain-dysfunction syndrome. The preexisting duration of this painful problem did not influence the response to therapy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

A clinico-pathological study of lithium nephrotoxicity.

Lithium salts, well recognised as acute nephrotoxins, have recently been implicated in the development of a chronic focal interstitial nephropathy. As part of a clinico-pathological study of lithium nephrotoxicity, renal function and renal histology has been compared between 25 patient on maintenance lithium therapy and 19 patients with affective illnesses prior to commencement of lithium therapy. Significant evidence of chronic renal damage was present in biopsies of lithium treated patients when compared with cadaveric donor kidneys (p less than 0.001). Similar damage was noted in biopsies from patient prior to lithium and differed from donor kidneys (p less than 0.01). The degree of damage was not significantly different between the patients on lithium and those not yet on lithium. An acute specific tubular lesion was note in patients on lithium, and a marked degree of distal tubule dilation and microcyst formation were also observed. Significant defects in urinary concentrating ability and urinary acidification were present in patients on lithium and there was a correlation between the degree of these defects and the duration of lithium therapy. There was no evidence of a substantial reduction in glomerular filtration rate, which could be ascribed to the lithium therapy.

Adult↗