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R Abrams

Publications and source records attributed to R Abrams.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

Differential EEG patterns in affective disorder and schizophrenia.

We analyzed the EEGs of 27 schizophrenic patients and 132 patients with affective disorder who received diagnoses according to rigorous research criteria. The proportion of abnormal EEGs was twice as great among schizophrenics as among affectives, and when the groups were compared for localized cortical differences, schizophrenics had more temporal abnormalities and affectives more parieto/occipital abnormalities. There was also a trend toward different hemispheric lateralization for the two groups, with a reversal of the relative proportions of left- and right-sided abnormalities. These differences were unrelated to age, sex, severity of illness, or past or present drug administration. These findings are complementary to those of other workers, lend support to the validity of our diagnostic research criteria, and provide additional evidence for neurophysiological differences between schizophrenics and patients with affective disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Unipolar mania revisited.

In a more sophisticated replication of an earlier study (Abrams and Taylor 1974), we examined 77 manic patients, of whom 29 had never suffered a depressive illness, and had two or more manic attacks. These unipolar manics were similar to the 48 bipolar manics for a wide variety of clinical, phenomenological, historical, laboratory and demographic variables, generally supporting our earlier findings. However, the present sample showed a striking excess of males among the unipolar manics, as well as an increased morbid risk for unipolar depression in first-degree relatives. Although not readily explainable, these differences suggest that it is premature to equate unipolar mania with classical bipolar illness. Further studies of unipolar mania are in progress.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Lateralized neuropsychological dysfunction in affective disorder and schizophrenia.

The authors compared the cognitive functioning of 22 schizophrenic patients, 105 patients with affective disorder, and 99 age-matched normal control subjects. Results of an aphasia screening test indicated that the schizophrenic patients made more total errors and more dominant temporal/temporoparietal errors than patients with affective disorders and that patients in both groups made more errors than controls. Patient sex, age, drug treatment received at test time, previous neuroleptic drug treatment, and severity of illness did not account for the differences. These findings support the validity of the authors' diagnostic research criteria and confirm prior reports of differences in dominant hemisphere dysfunction between schizophrenic patients and patients with affective disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Catatonia and mania: patterns of cerebral dysfunction.

We performed a factor analysis on research data from 55 consecutive hospitalized psychiatric patients who showed one or more of eight catatonic motor features. Two factors were extracted, accounting for 32% of the variance. Factor 1 (mutism, negativism, stupor) corresponded to the clinical syndrome of negativistic stupor and was unrelated to diagnosis, sex, age at onset, family history, or treatment response. Factor 2 (mutism, stereotypy, catalepsy, automatic obedience) corresponded to the classical description of catatonia, was associated with a research diagnosis of mania, and tended (p less than 0.10) to predict a favorable treatment response. We suggest that the two factors may reflect different forms of cerebral dysfunction which, in the case of Factor 2, may provide clues as to the nature of the morbid process in mania. Republication is now in progress in a different sample.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

A rating scale for emotional blunting.

Although emotional blunting has always been considered a core symptom of schizophrenia, it has been excluded from recently developed sets of diagnostic criteria because of its alleged unreliability. The authors describe a brief rating scale for emotional blunting that is highly reliable, predicts short-term treatment response, and discriminates between patients with affective disorder and schizophrenia. They suggest that this scale will permit restoration of the important criterion of emotional blunting to modern diagnostic systems, including that proposed for DSM-III.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1978

Tricyclics versus ECT.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic↗
PubMed1978

The prevalence of schizophrenia: a reassessment using modern diagnostic criteria.

Using strict research diagnosis criteria, the authors found a hospital admission prevalence of schizophrenia of about 6%. Other recent studies yielded similar figures, with correspondingly low figures for the morbid risk of schizophrenia in the general population and in the relatives of schizophrenic probands. In view of the data supporting the validity of this "narrow" concept of schizophrenia, the authors suggest that the true prevalence of schizophrenia is much lower than generally accepted.

Epidemiologic Methods↗
PubMed1978

Response to lithium carbonate.

We examined the clinical and research records of 29 acutely ill hospitalized patients with affective disorder who received only lithium carbonate during their first week of treatment. Nineteen patients (Group I) could be continued on lithium ion alone, while 10 patients (Group 2) needed additional somatic treatment. Compared with Group 1, Group 2 patients were significantly younger at illness onset, more severely ill on admission, clinically more "colorful" in dress and behavior, stayed more than twice as long in the hospital, and (although not statistically significant) had more than twice the morbidity risk for affective disorder in first-degree relatives. At discharge, both groups were equally improved, and 70% of Group 2 patients were receiving lithium alone. We did not confirm previous reports that nonresponders to lithium alone (Group 2) were more overactive or paranoid--destructive or less euphoric--grandiose than responders to lithium alone (Group 1). Our Group 2 patients had a more severe or penetrant form of illness than our Group 1 patients, requiring neuroleptic drugs or ECT in addition to lithium therapy. Eventually, however, they had a satisfactory outcome, suggesting therapeutic optimism and tenacity even in those patients who initially fail lithium alone and require polytreatment.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1978

Body fluid lithium measurements: severity of illness and prediction of outcome.

The authors measured lithium ion in saliva and serum 24 hr after a loading dose of lithium, and recorded the amount of lithium excreted in the urine during the 24-hr test period. Their results support previous work indicating a correlation between serum and mixed saliva lithium levels. On a subsample of manic patients, no correlation could be found between lithium retention and clinical outcome, age of onset, or pretreatment severity of illness. In addition, they were unable to confirm a prior report that the 24-hr postloading dose serum lithium level was a predictor of eventual therapeutic dosage.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Catatonia. Prevalence and importance in the manic phase of manic-depressive illness.

Of 123 acutely ill patients with bipolar affective disease, 28% exhibited clinical signs of catatonia. We were unable to differentiate manics with catatonic signs from manics without catatonic signs with regard to demographic characteristics, psychopathology, and the prevalence and pattern of psychiatric illness in their first-degree relatives. Our sample was similar to previously studied groups of manics. Although generally held to be associated with schizophrenia and of poor prognostic import, catatonic signs did not predict a poor treatment response in our manic patients. These data support the growing body of evidence demonstrating that catatonic signs are nonspecific and may be highly prevalent among patients with bipolar affective disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Catatonia: prediction of response to somatic treatments.

The authors investigated predictors of somatic treatment response in 55 patients with one or more of eight catatonic motor features. Responders more often had good prognostic signs, rapid or pressured speech, and diagnosable affective disorder or alcoholism. Nonresponders were younger at age of onset of first illness and were more frequently disoriented; they included all patients diagnosed as schizophrenic. The authors suggest that treatment response in catatonia is a function of primary diagnosis and that the syndrome is diagnostically nonspecific but occurs most often in patients with affective disorders.

Adult↗