PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

F M Quitkin

Publications and source records attributed to F M Quitkin.

154 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Can schizophrenia with premorbid asociality be genetically distinguished from the other forms of schizophrenia?

Sufficient data exist to establish a genetic basis for some forms of schizophrenia. However, genetic factors may not account for all the variance, and subtle forms of central nervous system (CNS) damage may have etiological significance for some schizophrenic subtypes. One such subtype may be chronic schizophrenia with premorbid asociality (SPA). To test this hypothesis, the risk of schizophrenia among relatives of probands who did or did not meet the criteria for SPA was examined. The incidence of schizophrenia in the relatives of SPA probands was lower than that in the relatives of non-SPA probands. This difference approached but did not reach statistical significance. Because most studies have found a higher familial genetic loading in chronic forms of schizophrenia, the apparently lower incidence of disorder in relatives of chronic schizophrenics with premorbid asociality seems to be a heuristic lead worth pursuing.

Antisocial Personality Disorder↗
PubMed1975

Atypical signs of relapse in affective disorders.

The authors have observed that patients with previous well documented evidence of affective illness can have an atypical relapse of depression precipitated by environmental or interpersonal stress. These patients present with complaints centered around problems resulting from current life stress. They deny sad mood and resist the idea that they are having recurrence of depression. It is suggested that the presence of anhedonia be used as a clinical guide to differentiate "understandable" preoccupation with reality problems from emergent depressive relapse. Patients with atypical relapses respond to antidepressants with a disappearance of anhedonia and an ability to place realistic problems in their proper perspective. Cases are presented illustrating this phenomena.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

How symptomatic do depressed patients remain after benefiting from medication treatment?

Symptom Check List-90 (SCL-90) scores of 318 moderately depressed, nonmelancholic outpatients treated with phenelzine, imipramine, or placebo were compared with scores obtained from a demographically matched control group of 69 "normal" subjects. Pretreatment scores of depressed patients were significantly higher than those of the control group; after 6 weeks of treatment, they were indistinguishable from scores of the control group. These results suggest that symptoms of moderately depressed patients who benefit from treatment not only decrease from baseline, but are reduced to a level of symptomatology that is psychiatrically normal.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Sleep of atypical depressives.

Patients who met provincial criteria for atypical depression were contrasted with a group of patients who met RDC criteria for endogenous depression and a group of normal controls on a standard series of sleep variables. Atypical depressives were differentiated from normal controls by a shortened REMP latency. They did not, however, appear to have the sleep continuity disturbance exhibited by endogenous depressives. This preliminary work suggests that atypical depressives may have a unique pattern of sleep variables consisting of REM abnormalities without continuity disturbance. If this pattern is observed in additional studies, it would add to the validity of considering atypical depression a subtype of unipolar depressive illness.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Evaluation and treatment of mood and anxiety disorders in opioid-dependent patients.

Mood and anxiety disorders are common and treatable but may cause considerable morbidity if left untreated. This is especially so in opioid-dependent individuals, for whom diagnosis is difficult and rehabilitation easily compromised. Clinicians need guidelines to distinguish the patient with an independent mood or anxiety disorder from the more common anxious or depressed addict who is withdrawing, intoxicated or reacting to a life crisis. This article reviews the current knowledge of diagnosis, clinical presentation, and prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders common among opioid-dependent patients. It attempts to identify features of a patient's history that distinguish truly independent disorders and proceeds to a discussion of treatment approaches for this subgroup.

Anxiety Disorders↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Treatment of premenstrual dysphoric symptoms in depressed women.

Although research has established a strong association between premenstrual dysphoric symptoms and depression, there is little data on the effect of antidepressents on premenstrual symptoms. This study compared the efficacy of three treatments--imipramine, phenelzine, and placebo--on the premenstrual symptoms of women with atypical depression who had responded to treatment for their depressive symptoms. The Premenstrual Assessment Form (PAF) was used to rate the type and degree of premenstrual symptomatology. After 12 weeks, at least two-thirds of the women on active medication showed improvement on most measures of premenstrual symptoms to the degree that they had essentially no premenstrual problems after treatment. By comparison, only half of a group of women who had responded to placebo treatment of 6 weeks duration showed such improvement.

Adolescent↗