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PubMed2001

The neuropsychological basis of addictive behaviour.

The argument advanced in this review is that drug addiction can be understood in terms of normal learning and memory systems of the brain which, through the actions of chronically self-administered drugs, are pathologically subverted, thereby leading to the establishment of compulsive drug-seeking habits, strengthened by the motivational impact of drug-associated stimuli and occurring at the expense of other sources of reinforcement. We review data from our studies that have utilized procedures which reveal the various influences of pavlovian stimuli on goal-directed behaviour, namely discriminated approach, pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer and conditioned reinforcement, in order to demonstrate their overlapping and also unique neural bases. These fundamental studies are also reviewed in the context of the neural and psychological mechanisms underlying drug-seeking behaviour that is under the control of drug-associated environmental stimuli. The ways in which such drug-seeking behaviour becomes compulsive and habitual, as well as the propensity for relapse to drug-seeking even after long periods of relapse, are discussed in terms of the aberrant learning set in train by the effects of self-administered drugs on plastic processes in limbic cortical-ventral striatal systems.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Eye movement abnormalities in anorexia nervosa.

The aim of the present study is to investigate smooth pursuit eye movement and saccadic performance in anorexia nervosa during a restored weight period and to determine if functional links can be made between eye movement performance and clinical features. SPEM parameters were recorded for 28 female anorectic out-patients (DSM IV), who had a body weight loss of up to 20% of ideal body weight. Twenty-eight comparison subjects were also tested. Clinically, each patient was assessed using the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI), the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), the Structured Interview for Personality Disorders (SCID II), the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) and the Hamilton Scale for Depression (HRSD). The anorectic patients performed slightly worse than the comparison subjects on a number of SPEM measures. No relationship was found between SPEM impairment and a global severity index of psychopathology (SCL 90-R GSI) or depressive symptoms. Moreover, OCD symptoms and scores on some EDI scales (such as perfectionism) appear related to the severity of the eye movement alterations. The evidence of SPEM abnormalities in a subgroup of anorectic patients during the remitted state and the relationship of the abnormalities to obsessive-compulsive symptoms are discussed. Results are in agreement with the hypothesis regarding the persistence of neurophysiological as well as psychopathological traits of disorder in anorectic patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Head-portion exposure to low-level X-rays reduces isolation-induced aggression of mouse, and involvement of the olfactory carnosine in modulation of the radiation effects.

Social isolation has been widely described to induce a compulsive aggressive behavior. The aggressiveness due to isolation in mice has often been used as a means for the better understanding of disturbed behavior in human beings. In the course of a study of the behavioral effects, we have noticed that fighting injuries, usually observed among male ICR mice, tend to decrease in mice irradiated with low-dose X-rays. We, therefore, quantitatively examined the effects of low-dose X-irradiation on aggressive behavior using a resident-intruder paradigm in which a resident mouse attacks an intruder that entered its territory. Male ICR white Swiss mice became gradually calm, and showed remarkably quiet behavior 7-10 days after whole-head 5 or 15 cGy X-irradiation. Only exposure of the anterior part of the head (olfactory system including orbits) also induced the remarkable suppression of the aggressive behavior. The olfactory system has direct access to the limbic system, a central part of the brain concerned with emotion. The calm behavior induced by low-dose X-irradiation might be related to the changes in the olfactory function. We also obtained data on brain biochemistry giving further support for the above low-dose effects on mouse behavior. The carnosine content and its synthetase activity in the olfactory bulbs decreased significantly after only the anterior part of the head had been exposed. Higher doses (25-35 cGy), however, did not induce such effects. The results suggest that the depression of aggressive behavior is limited to animals irradiated with the smaller doses.

Aggression↗
PubMed1998

Investigative burying by laboratory mice may involve non-functional, compulsive, behaviour.

The burying activity levels of albino mice offered a glass marble and a living scorpion on different occasions, were compared with the levels of exploration/investigation, avoidance, and displacement activities the same subjects performed during these and two other tests, the latter involving exploration with no particular stimulus-object and displacement with locomotion impossible. Although different average response levels were expected to occur in the different tests, it was assumed that the levels of related behavioural patterns correlated over the variation of individual mice. The scorpion elicited more burying than the marble, but the inanimate stimulus-object caused more avoidance. Exploration produced the only consistent, positive, correlation with burying in both female and male subjects. Only negative correlation occurred in males between burying and displacement, suggesting that these were alternative, in part non-functional, patterns. In females and males, while both touching and avoiding the marble decreased with experience over days, burying and displacement did not. The main conclusion is that burying began as an appropriate, investigative, activity, but, following frustrated investigation of the non-reactive stimulus-object, persisted as a compulsive stereotypy in subjects lacking in general experience, as laboratory rodents are in comparison with wild conspecifics. A simple model of compulsive disorder is proposed, in which initially appropriate behaviour goes on with inappropriate repetition when it does not attain its aim and the subject has internal difficulty in finding alternative patterns.

Aggression↗
PubMed1987

Psychogenic polydipsia with hyponatremia: report of eleven cases.

Psychogenic polydipsia is an uncommon clinical disorder characterized by excessive water-drinking in the absence of a physiologic stimulus to drink. The excessive water-drinking is well tolerated unless hyponatremia supervenes. This report describes 11 patients with psychogenic polydipsia and hyponatremia (ten men and one woman) who were collectively hospitalized a total of 70 times for treatment of complications of this disorder. This group differs from the classical patient with psychogenic polydipsia, ie, a hospitalized schizophrenic, in that none was institutionalized and there was a high incidence of chronic alcoholism (10), intractable hiccups (7), self-induced vomiting (6), and laboratory evidence for rhabdomyolysis (5).

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Resistance to extinction: a measure of orbitofrontal function suitable for children?

Extinction of operantly conditioned responses, which provides a measure of the ability to adapt to changes in the reinforcement value of stimuli, has been linked to orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in human and non-human animals. This article examines the feasibility of using extinction as a measure of the development of OFC function in preschool-age children. If extinction serves as a measure of OFC function, resistance to extinction should decrease during this age range. In Part 1, we review the literature on extinction as related to OFC, and summarize what is known regarding age-related changes in extinction in young children. In Part 2, we report results of a study assessing extinction in children between 3 and 6 years of age. Results revealed age-related increases in responding during extinction, with girls (particularly, 6-year-old girls) exhibiting stronger resistance to extinction. Some relations were found with temperament and normative compulsive-like behavior. The findings of this study question the utility of extinction of operant responding as a measure of OFC function in young children.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2002

Obsessions and compulsions and intolerance for uncertainty in a non-clinical sample.

It has been hypothesized that decision-making difficulties in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder may arise from intolerance for uncertainty. We investigated the relationship between obsessivity and intolerance for uncertainty (defined in terms of need for cognitive closure), controlling for state and trait anxiety and depression. We tested nonclinical subjects through the Need for Closure Scale (NFCS), the Padua Inventory Revised (PI-R), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Form-Y; STAI-Y). A principal component analysis showed a lack of correlation between the PI-R and the NFCS subscales. A set of multiple regression analyses performed on PI-R subscales showed that the need for cognitive closure cannot be considered as a strong predictor of obsessions and compulsions. These results speak against the hypothesis that people with high obsessivity have difficulties in taking decisions because of a cognitive need for certainty. We instead argue that difficulties in taking decisions may be related to other specific cognitive beliefs or meta-beliefs.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

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Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1979

The clinical evaluation of obsessionality: a development of the Leyton Obsessional Inventory.

The Leyton Obessional Inventory gives both an indication of the range of obsessional symptoms present and the degree of resistance and interference associated with each symptom. A new method is described in which the covariation of resistance and interference is represented in the form of a matrix. The results, using this method, can give a unique picture of the quality of the patient's symptoms from the clinical standpoint and provide useful guidelines for treatment and follow up. Automatic data-provessing is offered for the convenience of clinicians and researchers wishing to utilize the test in this form.

Compulsive Behavior↗
PubMed1994

The role of physical activity in the development and maintenance of eating disorders.

This study was intended to establish the pathogenic significance of sport and exercise in the development of eating disorders. Hospitalized eating disordered patients and an age-matched control group were assessed. Historical and current physical activity data were collected. An indepth interview was also conducted to ascertain the age of onset of the diagnostic symptoms for eating disorders, and to determine whether: (i) exercising predated dieting; (ii) patients had been involved in competitive athletics; (iii) exercise was excessive; and (iv) weight loss was inversely related to level of exercise. The results indicated that patients were more physically active than controls from adolescence onwards, and prior to the onset of the primary diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa. A content analysis of the interview data indicated that 78% of patients engaged in excessive exercise, 60% were competitive athletes prior to the onset of their disorder, 60% reported that sport or exercise pre-dated dieting, and 75% claimed that physical activity levels steadily increased during the period when food intake and weight loss decreased the most. Together our results suggest that overactivity should not be routinely viewed as a secondary symptom in anorexia nervosa, equivalent to other behaviours. For a number of anorexic women, sport/exercise is an integral part of the pathogenesis and progression of self-starvation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

HMPAO SPET does not distinguish obsessive-compulsive and tic syndromes in families multiply affected with Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome (GTS) is a familial neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by tics and obsessive-compulsive behaviours (OCB). Previous HMPAO SPET studies of subjects with GTS have shown hypoperfusion of striatal and frontal areas. Studies of patients with primary obsessive-compulsive disorder have shown, in contrast, hyperperfusion of similar areas. METHODS: Twenty subjects from five families affected by GTS, including individuals with OCB but no tics, were examined using HMPAO SPET. RESULTS: There were abnormalities of regional cerebral perfusion in individuals with GTS, OCB and tics. Hypoperfusion was in striatal, frontal and temporal areas. There was no hyperperfusion. CONCLUSIONS: Regional cerebral blood flow patterns in individuals with OCB in families affected by GTS are comparable to their relatives with GTS and differ from individuals with primary OCD in the absence of a family history of tic disorders.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Frontal variant of frontotemporal dementia: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study of neuropsychiatric features.

BACKGROUND: The term frontotemporal dementia (FTD) covers both the temporal and frontal presentations of this condition. The frontal variant (fv) presents with insidious changes in personality and behaviour, with neuropsychological evidence of disproportionate frontal dysfunction. Although psychiatric features are well recognized, there is little systematic data examining the mental state using assessment instruments and no reported studies of the longitudinal progress and assessment. METHODS: Fifteen patients with a diagnosis of FTD(fv) were assessed using the Comprehensive Psychiatric Rating Scale (CPRS). A subgroup of five patients were reassessed annually using the same instrument, generating data over a 3-year period. RESULTS: At initial assessment a third of 15 patients had no psychiatric symptoms to report. Three patients reported symptoms of sadness, but only one patient met criteria for DSM-IV major depressive episode. One patient experienced symptoms of elation, but did not meet criteria for manic episode, while two patients had hypochondriacal complaints but did not meet DSM-IV criteria for hypochondriasis. One of these patients also experienced the compulsion to count but did not meet criteria for obsessive compulsive disorder. The objective mental state was, on the whole, not congruent with the reported symptoms. Five patients assessed over a 3-year period showed no progression of their subjectively reported symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Psychiatric symptoms although often present were characterized by their shallowness, lack of elaboration and non-development over time.

Aged↗