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W M Grove

Publications and source records attributed to W M Grove.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Psychometric detection of schizotypy: perceptual aberration and physical anhedonia in relatives of schizophrenics.

We administered scales of Perceptual Aberration (PERAB) and Physical Anhedonia (PHYSAN), traits that may be related to risk for schizophrenia, to 54 schizophrenics, 146 of their first-degree relatives (evaluated for schizophrenia-related disorders), and 178 normal subjects (screened for psychotic disorders in them or their relatives). For both scales, there was a significant effect of group membership. For the PERAB scale, the schizophrenics had higher scores than the normal subjects, who had higher scores than the relatives. For the PHYSAN scale, schizophrenics had higher scores than their relatives, who had higher scores than the normal subjects. Patterns of familial correlations also suggested that physical anhedonia, but not perceptual aberration, may be familial among schizophrenics and their relatives. The PHYSAN scale, but not the PERAB one, may be a useful indicator of liability for schizophrenia among the relatives of affected probands.

Adult↗

Head size in relation to schizophrenia and schizotypy.

Cranial breadth and length on DSM-III schizophrenic probands (n = 16) and their nonpsychotic siblings (n = 34) were measured using standard anthropometric calipers. Siblings were divided into those with and those without DSM-III schizotypal personality disorder based on Baron et al.'s Schedule for Schizotypal Personalities interview (1981). These siblings provide controls for prenatal and childhood nutritional status, which could affect head size, and for genetic contributors to head size. Contrary to previous reports (Andreasen et al. 1986; and Pearlson et al. 1989), in the present sample schizophrenic patients did not have smaller heads. The relationship between height and head size for schizophrenic subjects, schizotypal siblings, and nonschizotypal siblings was also examined. As in Andreasen et al. (1986), the regression slope of head size on height was lower in schizophrenic patients than in their siblings, but here this difference was not significant. The data do not support a conjectured relationship between small or dysmorphic head size and schizophrenia or schizotypy.

Adult↗

Follow-up and family study of anxious depression.

OBJECTIVE: The failure of the concept of anxious depression to find its way into DSM-III-R led the authors to conclude that a further report on the occurrence of anxiety symptoms in depressed subjects is indicated. METHOD: The subjects were 327 consecutively evaluated inpatients and outpatients with primary unipolar depressive disorder at five university medical centers participating in the National Institute of Mental Health Collaborative Program on the Psychobiology of Depression--Clinical Studies. The authors restricted their sample selection to patients with primary depressive disorder so that patients with other preexisting psychiatric disorders, especially anxiety disorders, would not contaminate the symptom picture, family studies, or follow-up. The examined six anxiety symptoms and derived a new anxiety summary score to show the effect of anxiety in depression on family data and 5-year outcome. RESULTS: Depressed subjects with higher ratings for anxiety took longer to recover. There was also a significant relationship between anxiety in depressed probands and the risk for primary unipolar depressive disorder, but not anxiety disorders or alcoholism, among 832 blindly interviewed first-degree relatives. CONCLUSIONS: These data confirm the usefulness of subdividing depressed patients according to anxiety symptoms: psychic and somatic symptoms of anxiety, taken together, significantly predict family illness and course. The data also emphasize the wisdom of requiring that generalized anxiety disorder not be diagnosed in the presence of a mood disorder. Clearly, symptoms of anxiety coexist with depression and need to be recognized for the effective treatment of the underlying depressive disorder.

Ambulatory Care↗

When is a diagnosis worth making? A statistical comparison of two prediction strategies.

For a setting in which the sole goal is to predict a criterion accurately, two strategies are compared, (1) multiple linear regression directly from a set of predictors and (2) using predictors to diagnose individuals and then using only the diagnosis to predict the criterion. These are mathematical models of two common methods for making clinical predictions. This article derives equations for each statistical strategy's validity (and a formula comparing them, for a special case). Prediction accuracies are compared over a simplified but broad parameter space and four conclusions follow. Changing disorder prevalences (in the range 0.1 to 0.5) have small effect on the relative preferability of the two strategies; the effect of varying prevalence differs according to population separation on predictors and criterion. As within-population covariances of predictors with criterion decline below zero (assuming variables are scaled so that the less common population scores higher on predictors and criterion), diagnoses become increasingly preferable as a prediction strategy; as they rise above zero the opposite trend is observed. As populations become better separated on predictors or criterion, diagnoses compare more favorably. Most importantly, over almost all of the parameter space which one would expect to encounter in clinical psychology and psychiatry, multiple linear regression is much superior.

Diagnosis, Differential↗

Heritability of substance abuse and antisocial behavior: a study of monozygotic twins reared apart.

Thirty-two sets of monozygotic twins reared apart since shortly after birth (31 pairs and one set of triplets; median age at separation was 0.2 years) were interviewed separately and blindly using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for presence of DSM-III Axis I psychiatric disorders and antisocial personality. Because the sample was recruited from a nonclinical population, predictably few subjects met criteria for such disorders. However, items counting toward diagnoses were cumulated into four scores: alcohol-related problems, drug-related problems, childhood antisocial behavior, and adult antisocial behavior. The scores showed within-scale cohesion as measured by Cronbach's coefficient alpha. The drug scale and both antisocial scales showed significant heritability (p less than 0.1), but the alcohol scale had an estimated heritability of zero (albeit with a broad confidence interval). There appeared to be substantial commonalities in the genetic factors responsible for these traits.

Adolescent↗

Latent class analysis of diagnostic agreement.

We describe methods based on latent class analysis for analysis and interpretation of agreement on dichotomous diagnostic ratings. This approach formulates agreement in terms of parameters directly related to diagnostic accuracy and leads to many practical applications, such as estimation of the accuracy of individual ratings and the extent to which accuracy may improve with multiple opinions. We describe refinements in the estimation of parameters for varying panel designs, and apply latent class methods successfully to examples of medical agreement data that include data previously found to be poorly fitted by two-class models. Latent class techniques provide a powerful and flexible set of tools to analyse diagnostic agreement and one should consider them routinely in the analysis of such data.

Algorithms↗

How does cognitive therapy work? Cognitive change and symptom change in cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy for depression.

The effects of changes in depression-relevant cognition were examined in relation to subsequent change in depressive symptoms for outpatients with major depressive disorder randomly assigned to cognitive therapy (CT; n = 32) versus those assigned to pharmacotherapy only (NoCT; n = 32). Depression severity scores were obtained at the beginning, middle, and end of the 12-week treatment period, as were scores on 4 measures of cognition: Attributional Styles Questionnaire (ASQ), Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ), Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale (DAS), and the Hopelessness Scale (HS). Change from pretreatment to midtreatment on the ASQ, DAS, and HS predicted change in depression from midtreatment to posttreatment in the CT group, but not in the NoCT group. It is concluded that cognitive phenomena play mediational roles in cognitive therapy. However, data do not support their status as sufficient mediators.

Adolescent↗

Familial rates of affective disorder. A report from the National Institute of Mental Health Collaborative Study.

We examined familial rates of affective disorder and related illness in a cohort of 955 probands studied at five centers in the National Institute of Mental Health Collaborative Study of the Psychobiology of Depression: Boston, Chicago, Iowa City, New York, and St. Louis. Six hundred sixteen of these probands were entered into a family study, and 3423 of their first-degree relatives were evaluated. The probands were divided into five diagnostic groups: schizoaffective-bipolar (n = 37), schizoaffective-depressed (n = 18), bipolar I (n = 151), bipolar II (n = 76), and unipolar (n = 330). The relatives of bipolar I probands had a higher rate of bipolar I illness than the relatives of unipolar probands, but the relatives of unipolar probands did not have a higher rate of unipolar illness than the relatives of bipolar I probands. The relatives of probands with schizoaffective disorder, depressed subtype, had a higher rate of schizophrenia than the relatives of schizoaffective-bipolar probands, suggesting that bipolar schizoaffective disorder may be closer to pure affective disorder while schizoaffective depression may be closer to schizophrenia. An increase in bipolar II illness was also observed in the relatives of bipolar II probands. Overall, these data support the widely accepted distinction between bipolar and unipolar affective disorders.

Adult↗

Isolation and characterization of a nuclear depressive syndrome.

We investigated the nosology of endogenous depression by numerical taxonomy. Five hundred and sixty-nine patients diagnosed as having unipolar major depressive disorder in the NIMH Clinical Research Branch Program on the Psychobiology of Depression-Clinical were studied. Thirty-six symptoms which might distinguish endogenous from non-endogenous depressions were chosen from the literature. Patients' symptom profiles assessed by structured interview were grouped by two methods: a K-means improvement of Ward's method of cluster analysis, and a latent class algorithm. The methods produced very similar groups and several internal validity criteria suggested that the groups were not spurious. Cluster 1, 'nuclear depression,' included a nucleus of patients common to multiple definitions of endogenous depression. The non-nuclear group scored as less neurotic than the nuclear group on personality tests administered during the index episode. The groups do not differ in frequency, number or severity of reported life events prior to onset of the index episode. The nuclear group shows a poor prognosis on two-year prospective follow-up, greater disturbance on personality inventories, and increased heritability of depression in siblings.

Adult↗

Structural abnormalities in the frontal system in schizophrenia. A magnetic resonance imaging study.

Thirty-eight schizophrenics and 49 normal controls underwent magnetic resonance imaging. Midline sagittal cuts indicated that the schizophrenics had significantly smaller frontal lobes, as well as smaller cerebrums and craniums. The findings are consistent with some type of early developmental abnormality that might retard brain growth and therefore skull growth. These findings are confirmed on a smaller sample of patients on whom we have coronal cuts. Decreased cerebral and cranial size are associated with prominent negative symptoms, although decreased frontal size is not. Decreased cranial and cerebral size was also associated with impairment on some cognitive tests. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that some schizophrenics may have a type of early developmental abnormality associated with prominent negative symptoms and cognitive impairment. Further, the results suggest that schizophrenics may have a type of structural frontal system impairment. Thus, they provide anatomic evidence for the "hypofrontality hypothesis."

Adult↗

The stability of diagnosis with an application to bipolar II disorder.

A temporal stability study (where independent diagnostic interviews are conducted at widely separated time points) is discussed and compared to a test/retest reliability study. We introduce a new battery of statistics, based on the sensitivity, specificity, and true base rate of a disorder, that quantifies either reliability or stability over time, and provide a table that relates these underlying parameters to the opening characteristics of the battery. We analyze data on 50 relatives who participated in the family study component of the National Institute of Mental Health's collaborative "Psychobiology Depression Program." The subjects received an interview 5 years after their initial evaluation by raters without knowledge of the initial assessment. The stability of mania, hypomania, major depression, and alcoholism is considered. Although the kappa coefficient for hypomania was small (0.09), all diagnoses of hypomania in the relatives occurred in the families of bipolar probands, suggesting that the low value of kappa is due to a low sensitivity rather than to a low specificity. This is compatible with earlier findings and demonstrates the value of multiple independent assessments when studying this disorder.

Bipolar Disorder↗

Thought, language, and communication in schizophrenia: diagnosis and prognosis.

Using the Scale for the Assessment of Thought, Language, and Communication (TLC), we examined the frequency of "thought disorder" in 94 normal volunteers and 100 psychiatric patients (25 each suffering from manic disorder, schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenic disorder, disorganized type, and schizophrenic disorder, paranoid type). We observed the manics to have a substantial amount of thought disorder and the normals to have a modest amount, suggesting that thought disorder is probably not pathognomonic of schizophrenia. The patients with affective illness did, however, show a somewhat different pattern of abnormality. In particular, patients with affective psychosis have more prominent positive thought disorder, while the schizophrenic patients tend to have more negative thought disorder. Evaluation of the patients 6 months later indicated that most types of thought disorder remit in the manics, while they persist in the schizophrenics; patients with schizoaffective disorder also tend to improve substantially. The strongest predictor of outcome was the presence of negative thought disorder.

Adult↗

Language and thinking in psychosis. Is there an input abnormality?

We studied "formal thought disorder" in schizophrenics, schizoaffectives, and manics by examining syntax processing and perception of meaning, using the "embedded click" and "memory for gist tasks," two paradigms that were developed by psycholinguists. To control for generalized performance deficits, a matched-task design was used. Contrary to expectation, patients did worse on a matched memory for digits task than on sentence processing. At a six-month follow-up examination, schizophrenics' performance did not improve while other patients' did. We concluded that psychotic patients have no specific language perception deficit but do have a short-term memory deficit. This deficit tends to remit for manics and schizoaffectives, but not for schizophrenics.

Adult↗

Comment on Lidz and associates' critique of the Danish-American studies of the offspring of schizophrenic parents.

The author replies to a critique by Lidz and associates of the Greater Copenhagen Adoption Study conducted by Rosenthal and colleagues. A detailed examination of the reanalysis by Lidz and associates of tabulated data from the original adoption study reports substantiates only one of their objections. The author argues that, because of the way in which the original data were gathered, the reanalysis is without substantial merit in evaluating the adoption study.

Adoption↗

Simultaneous tests of many hypotheses in exploratory research.

Many traditional statistical approaches to data analysis assume a relatively simple situation in which the investigator is testing a single hypothesis. Most research in psychiatry, on the other hand, is exploratory in nature and involves testing many hypotheses. Exploratory research presents special problems in data analysis, which are discussed in this overview. Special statistical approaches that are available to reduce error risk, such as the Bonferroni inequality, are described. The importance of selecting confidence levels appropriate to a particularly investigation, rather than arbitrary use of the .05 level, is also discussed.

Psychiatry↗

The classification of depression: traditional versus mathematical approaches.

The authors examine the classification of depressive disorders with an empirically and mathematically based method, cluster analysis. In a sample of 228 patients from the NIMH Collaborative Study of the Psychobiology of Depression, clusters were generated by using crossectional symptoms; course of illness, family history, and treatment variables were used as independent variables to evaluate the validity of the clusters. The four clusters identified correspond roughly to severe depressions with endogenous features, less severe depressions, bipolar depression with cycling within the episode, and psychotic depressions. This study supports the Research Diagnostic Criteria and DSM-III approaches to the classification of depressive disorders.

Bipolar Disorder↗