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Biomedical subjects

D Widlocher

Publications and source records attributed to D Widlocher.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Discrimination and response bias in memory: effects of depression severity and psychomotor retardation.

Although memory disorders have been well documented in depression, there is controversy concerning depressives' performance on recognition memory tasks; e.g. whether they have impaired discrimination and conservative or liberal response bias according to signal detection theory. In addition, symptomatic correlates of discrimination and response bias indices have been lacking. A word recognition memory task analyzed according to the two high threshold theory was administered to 26 depressives and 26 controls. Depressives obtained a lower index of discrimination (Pr) than controls. The index of response bias (Br) was not different between groups. In the depressed group, overall severity of depression was related to discrimination, whereas psychomotor retardation level was related to response bias. Cognitive performance of depressives could be advantageously analyzed in terms of these two dimensions of symptomatology.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Emotional and psychopathological disturbances in HIV-infection.

1. The evaluation of emotional disturbances, depression and anxiety in 25 HIV-Positive paired with 25 HIV-Negative male homosexuals and a control group of 15 HIV-Negative male heterosexual have shown the presence of emotional perturbations and especially of an emotional blunting, in absence of depressive or anxious episode in HIV-Positive subjects. 2. Emotional perturbations were the lowest in the HIV-Negative heterosexual group. 3. These results raise the question of the emotional deficit as an adaptative process or as the direct action of the virus. 4. Its relationship with the other emotional perturbations and their impact on the evolution of the disease are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Mood-independent aberrancies of word responses and action of lithium on their repetition in manic depressed illness.

Following a preceding study, two samples of patients, one French (N = 20) and one American (N = 29), from two affective disorders clinics, were given free word-association tests consisting of two successive presentations of the same list of stimulus words separated by a 15 minute interval. On the one hand, commonness of word responses was not affected by changes of mood, and consequently aberrancies in associative processes may be a trait of persons with bipolar affective disorders. On the other hand, repetition of responses was directly correlated with lithium concentration in plasma, which allowed a prediction of the success of lithium therapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Antiparkinsonian and antidepressant effects of high doses of bromocriptine. An independent comparison.

Ten depressed parkinsonian patients were treated with high doses of bromocriptine (rang 85-220 mg/day). Changes in the parkinsonian and depressive symptomatologies were independently evaluated by a neurologist and a psychiatrist. Rating took place before treatment after wash-out and again 8 days later. Results show a significant mean improvement of both depressive and parkinsonian symptomatologies. However, there was no correlation between the two therapeutic effects in the 10 patients. Clinical and biological implications of these heterogeneous patterns are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

The place of anxiety in depressive symptomatology.

1 In the same sample of 42 depressed inpatients, treated by a sequence of anxiolytic followed by antidepressant, total depression, anxiety and retardation scores are compared. 2 Results confirm that retarded patients are good responders to antidepressants. Non-retarded patients do not respond to antidepressants but respond partially to anxiolytics. 3 The respective place of retardation and anxiety in depression is discussed.

Anti-Anxiety Agents↗
PubMed1982

[Hysteria 100 years later].

Is it true that hysteria we see today is no longer that described at the end of the last century? Is it true that Charcot's work on hysteria ended in failure? Contrary to currently accepted opinion, it can be demonstrated not only that Charcot truly laid the foundation for the psychological theory of hysteria but that his explanation of the mechanism of conversion forms the basis for one of the most effective therapies. Furthermore the major streams of thought in psychopathology have come to complete Charcot's point of view and in no way contradict it. A general view of neurosis can thus be distinguished, while not forgetting that these complementary points of view are based on logics of action irreducibles to each other. The interest shown by Charcot in cultural phenomena, such as ecstasy or demoniacal possession, even introduces to an anthropological point of view which situates the hysterical symptom within the more general framework of a universal modality of action.

Culture↗
PubMed1981

[Fatigue and depression (author's transl)].

Fatigue is usually stated as a major symptom of the depressive condition. Its diagnosis value seems higher in mild depressions, that in severe depressive syndromes. In this later case the symptom is overwhelmed by psychic pain. Contrary to the common viewpoint fatigue does not seem a consequence of sadness and lack of interest. It seems we have to make a distinction between the fatigue related to anxiety and hypochondria and an other kind of fatigue that is the subjective aspect of motor and mental retardation. Its relationships with circadian rhythms and nor-adrenergic transmission are probably the best ways to explore the biological mechanisms.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1981

[Obsessional-type compulsive behavior caused by bilateral circumscribed pallidostriatal necrosis. Encephalopathy caused by a wasp sting].

A previously healthy young man developed encephalopathy after a wasp sting in 1968. Neurological complications included chorea, currently of a minor degree, replaced by buccofacial dyskinesias and compulsive movements. The most disabling consequences were of psychic nature, the patient presenting an unusually marked compulsive activity of an obsessional type. The whole psychic picture however was quite different from that of the usual neurosis, since there was neither anxiety nor doubt, but a mental vacuum contrasting with almost normal intellectual and affective capacities. It was as though there was a loss of the auto-activation system of psychic life, postulated by dynamic psychologists. C.A.T. demonstrated bilateral pallidostriatal necrosis. This suggests that the striatum plays a motor and psychic role. In the field of motor control, its hypoactivity appears to determine not only chorea but dyskinesias similar to tics and compulsive movements. In the psychic field, the striatum appears to play the very general role of an auto-activation system of intellectual and affective life, its deficiency leading to mental activity of a compulsive nature. Improvement in knowledge of striatal biology should clarify not only the basic mechanisms of chorea, but those of tics and obsessions.

Brain Diseases↗
PubMed1980

A beta adrenergic stimulant (salbutamol) versus clomipramine in depression: a controlled study.

A controlled study comparing salbutamol (6 mg/day) to clomipramine (150 mg/day), both given by intravenous infusion, was performed on depressed inpatients (10 per group). The symptomatology was evaluated by two blind observers at days 0, 5, and 15 using the Hamilton Rating Scale. Both treatments were effective on the overall symptomatology but the onset of action of salbutamol was more rapid.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

[Treatment of orthostatic hypotension induced by tricyclic antidepressants with yohimbine (author's transl)].

Following the observation that two patients with depression and essential orthostatic hypotension recovered from the latter affection after yohimbine administration, an open study was conducted to assess the activity of yohimbine in correcting orthostatic hypotension induced by tricyclic antidepressants. Results were conclusive in 10 of the 11 patients treated, and were confirmed in a further 12 cases during a double-blind study. Yohimbine appears to be the most effective treatment for orthostatic hypotension, either essential or induced by thymoanaleptic or neuroleptic therapy.

Blood Pressure↗