Incarceration as "therapy".
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R Lewine.
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Heterogeneity of results continues to hamper schizophrenia research. The examination of sex differences in the effort to reduce this heterogeneity has had mixed results in neuropsychology. We have begun to examine the validity of both sex and onset age to define early-onset male and late-onset female prototypes of the disorder. Extensive neuropsychological assessment of 191 schizophrenia/schizoaffective patients was conducted. Analysis of performance scores revealed a significant pattern reflecting poorer performance and less lateralized function in early-onset men and late-onset women compared with late-onset men and early-onset women. The discussion addresses the etiological implications of these findings.
Ample evidence supports sex differences in the clinical features of schizophrenia. In this regard, estrogen may contribute to later onset and less severe course of illness in women. Direct investigation of hormonal status in schizophrenia is extremely difficult. The present report documents the clinical features of schizophrenia in a young woman with long-standing hyperandrogenism related to polycystic ovarian disease. We postulate that hyperandrogenism contributed to a relatively early onset, olfactory dysfunction, and other clinical features of schizophrenia more commonly associated with men. Additionally, acute estrogen depletion following cessation of oral contraceptives may have precipitated psychosis, while recommencement of oral contraceptives could have contributed to subsequent improvement in symptoms.
Natural killer cell activity was prospectively studied in 15 patients with chronic schizophrenia and in seven patients with schizoaffective disorder, depressed type. These patients were compared to individually matched normal controls. No mean differences in natural killer cell activity between the patient groups and their controls were observed.
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A series of studies of the phenomenology and biochemistry of schizophrenia suggests that the fundamental nature of schizophrenia differs in men and women. In men, schizophrenia appears to be an amotivational syndrome possibly mediated by dopaminergic underactivity; in women, schizophrenia is perhaps best conceptualized as an affective disorder variant.
The responses of serum prolactin (PRL) and growth hormone (GH) to the dopamine agonist apomorphine hydrochloride (0.75 mg subcutaneously) were studied in a large group of unmedicated hospitalized patients with functional psychoses. There were no differences in the GH response in various diagnostic groups. The PRL response was greater in patients with affective disorders. The GH response was inversely related to total duration of illness in the entire sample of patients, but this correlation was independent of age effect only in the group of patients with major depression. In schizophrenics, the effect of the two factors, age and duration of the illness, could not be separated. The apomorphine-induced GH response was significantly correlated with psychosis ratings and negative symptom scale scores. The apomorphine-induced PRL suppression correlated significantly with various measures of depression across diagnostic groups.
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Contrary to earlier epidemiological data, recent evidence points to a significantly greater proportion of men than women among schizophrenic patients diagnosed by current restrictive criteria. In this study, the authors analyzed the effect of using six different diagnostic systems (varying in their stringency) on the male to female ratio of schizophrenia among 387 inpatients. Diagnostic criteria representing a broad conceptualization of schizophrenia, such as the New Haven Schizophrenia Index, consistently yielded equal rates of schizophrenia among men and women. Those diagnostic systems representing more stringently defined schizophrenia, such as the Research Diagnostic Criteria, consistently yielded a male to female ratio significantly greater than the male to female ratio of the total sample.
The relationship between DSM-III schizophrenia, major affective disorders, and the psychotic disorders not elsewhere classified (PDNEC) can be explored through studies which attempt to determine whether these disorders can be differentiated from one another and normal controls by biological measures. Preliminary results of an ongoing project which utilizes measures of blood platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO), serotonin (5-HT) uptake, and 5-HT content, and the apomorphine-induced increase in growth hormone (GH) to accomplish these goals are reported here. DSM-III major affective disorders (bipolar disorder and major depression) can be differentiated from normal controls by the V max of platelet 5-HT. Platelet 5-HT V max of bipolar disorder, depressed type, is significantly different from that of schizophrenia and PDNEC. Elevated platelet 5-HT content is present in black schizophrenic patients compared to black normal controls. Platelet MAO was increased in a small group of schizophreniform female patients. There was no difference in the apomorphine-induced GH response between any of the diagnostic groups. If confirmed in a larger series of patients, these results tend to identify the PDNEC more closely with schizophrenia than the major affective disorders.
First rank symptoms have assumed an important role in the assessment of schizophrenia. Only recently, however, have there been empirical studies of their reliability and validity. In this study, we examined the relationship between first rank and other psychiatric symptoms in 100 schizophrenic patients. The results are consistent with other research reports suggesting that first rank symptoms do not represent a homogeneous group of symptoms within an individual patient.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.