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Biomedical subjects

D R Sweeney

Publications and source records attributed to D R Sweeney.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

Differences between self-reported and observed pleasure in depression and schizophrenia.

Observer ratings of positive affect and self-ratings of pleasurable experience were collected daily on six schizophrenic and five depressed inpatients during baseline medication-free periods ranging from 11 to 27 days. Schizophrenics were observed to display significantly higher degrees of positive affect than depressed patients, but they reported significantly lower degrees of experienced pleasure. Depressed patients, conversely, were observed to demonstrate significantly lower degrees of positive affect than schizophrenics, but they reported significantly higher degrees of experienced pleasure. These results have important implications for the further specification of mechanisms underlying abnormalities in pleasure associated with psychiatric disorders.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1979

A follow-up neurobiological study: why volunteer?

There is usually great concern over the use of psychiatric patients for clinical research, as it raises the ethical and legal issues of human dignity and autonomy. In this paper the authors describe and evaluate a follow-up neurobiological study of patients who had been discharged from a psychiatric research ward at least ten months earlier. It is pointed out that such studies are rare and that the writers were provided with the unique opportunity to examine attitudinal and motivational dimensions involved in the patients' agreement to participate in the study.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1979

Endorphin-locus coeruleus connection mediates opiate action and withdrawal.

Endorphins and exogenous opiates inhibit the activity of the noradrenergic nucleus locus coeruleus (LC). This discovery of endorphin transmitters and their interaction with the LC has supported our studies which have suggested that the majority of the signs and symptoms of opiate withdrawal are mimicked by electrical or chemical activation of the LC. We hypothesize that this endorphin-LC connection is critical to opiate action and the withdrawal syndrome. This hypothesis suggests that chronic opiate administration inhibits LC activity and that opiate abstinence after addiction results in a release from inhibition with resultant LC hyperactivity. This hypothesis is supported by recent data suggesting that clonidine as a drug which inhibits the LC and LC-mediated noradrenergic activation, is an efficacious non-opiate treatment for opiate withdrawal. This hypothesis can be tested in man by evaluating drugs which inhibit the LC and LC-mediated behaviors for anti-withdrawal efficacy.

Adrenergic Fibers↗
PubMed1979

Exacerbation of psychosis by tricyclic antidepressants in delusional depression.

The authors describe three patients with delusional unipolar depression whose delusional thinking worsened markedly following administration of tricyclic antidepressant drugs. The patients had met Research Diagnostic Criteria for major depressive episode and had no evidence of schizophrenia or mania. Since tricyclic antidepressants are known to exacerbate psychosis in schizophrenic patients, it is sometimes suggested that the exacerbation of psychotic thinking in depressed patients indicates schizophrenia. The authors suggest that such an exacerbation does not in itself indicate schizophrenia but may occur in patients with an affective disorder who are prone to depressive delusions. The authors discuss the use of antipsychotic medication in this patient group and present a neurochemical hypothesis to explain the interaction of the drug with the illness, which results in exacerbation of psychotic thinking.

Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic↗
PubMed1978

Primary affective disorder, clinical state change, and MHPG excretion: a longitudinal study.

Urinary 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenethylene glycol (MHPG) excretion, which is thought to reflect CNS norepinephrine metabolism, has been shown to be significantly decreased in some depressed patients. Although there is consensus that urinary MHPG excretion varies directly with mood in rapidly cycling bipolar patients, there is little information on longer term state changes, such as those that accompany recovery from depression. Ten female patients with diagnoses of primary affective disorder were studied initially during an inpatient hospitalization and restudied at least ten months after discharge. Five healthy female comparison subjects were also studied over a similar interval of time. During the baseline period, the patient sample excreted less MHPG than did the comparison group. Improvement in clinical state from a seriously depressed baseline was associated with a significant increase in MHPG excretion, while the patients with recurrences of depression showed no change and continued to excrete less MHPG than the comparison subjects. These results suggest that urinary MHPG excretion may represent an index of psychobiological state in depressive patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

State anxiety, physical activity, and urinary 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenethylene glycol excretion.

Measurement of urinary 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenethylene glycol (MHPG) levels has been suggested as possibly being important in elucidating the role of central noradrenergic function in affective illnesses. The influence on urinary MHPG excretion of the state variables of physical activity and stress has not been clearly defined in previous studies. During a baseline medication-free period, 24 hospitalized depressed female patients underwent a five-day protocol including an eight-hour period of either enhanced or restricted activity. Throughout the protocol, independent measurements of telemetered mobility and stale anxiety were obtained. There were no significant effects of physical activity on urinary MHPG levels. Furthermore, baseline urinary MHPG levels and baseline state anxiety did not covary significantly. However, within-individual analyses yielded a highly significant relationship between changes in urinary MHPG levels and changes in state anxiety. The data suggested that those patients with lower baseline MHPG levels were those more prone to experience increased anxiety under environmentally "activating" circumstances.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Perphenazine-induced systemic lupus erythematosus-like syndrome.

A small number of cases have been presented in the world literature in which treatment with phenothiazines resulted in clinical and laboratory manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The clinical picture of such patients tends to be "symptom poor". A 26-year-old patient is presented who had a 7-year history of treatment for a schizophrenic illness and developed clinical as well as laboratory evidence for SLE. The differential diagnosis included: a) phenothiazine-induced SLE; b) SLE presenting with psychosis as a symptom; and c) SLE and sychosis occurring independently. The patient had a complete medical and neuropsychiatric work-up and was followed for 12 months. This challenging diagnostic problem is discussed. Phenothiazine-induced SLE was the most likely diagnosis. Although the possibility of two diseases occurring independently in the same person did not explain the clinical and laboratory data, it is difficult to rule out this possibility completely. SLE presenting with psychosis as a symptom could be ruled out by the work-up and history.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Dissociation of self-reported and observed pleasure in depression.

Anhedonia, or the inability to experience pleasure, is an important component of depressive symptomatology. Observer ratings of positive affect and self-ratings of pleasurable experience were collected from ten depressed inpatients and ten ward staff members during the patients' base-line, medication-free period. Depressives were observed to display significantly lower degrees of positive affect than the normal group, but they reported significantly higher degrees of experienced pleasure. The normal group displayed positive affective behavior that was consistent with self-reported data. Thus, normal subjects showed synchronous, or associated self-reported and observed activity, whereas depressives appeared to be dissociated along those same dimensions. A dissociation also appeared in self-reports of positive versus negative mood states, suggesting the existence of a malfunction in these normally inhibitory affective mechanisms.

Depression↗
PubMed1978

Urinary 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol and psychiatric diagnosis.

The authors examined the quantities of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) in the urine of 11 schizophrenic female patients, 14 primary affective disorder (depressed type) female patients, and 10 healthy comparison women. The primary affective disorder patients had significantly less MHPG in their urine than did the comparison subjects. The schizophrenic patients when compared with the healthy subjects or the depressed patients did not excrete significantly different amounts of MHPG in urine. The variance in MHPG in schizophrenic patients was quite large; some had very low urinary MHPG. There was a significant positive correlation between agitation and urinary MHPG for schizophrenic but not depressed patients. The authors discuss theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

At our pleasure.

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Emotions↗