Depressed Psychiatric Patients Research Articles

Cognitive distortion and cognitive errors in depressed psychiatric and low back pain patients.

Cognitive distortion and cognitive errors in depressed psychiatric and low back pain patients.

Transfer of persistence across behaviors.

Two experiments tested the applicability to human beings of findings with animals that the number of performances required for the reinforcement of one behavior affects the subsequent effort expended in other instrumental behaviors. In the first experiment, adult depressed psychiatric patients worked on a sorting task for the approval of a staff psychologist. The time spent and the work completed were increased by prior approval from a ward attendant for each completion of several custodial tasks, as compared to the ward attendant's approval for each completion of a single task or a no-pretreatment control condition. In the second experiment, preadolescent learning-disabled students who were required to read and spell correctly a greater number of words per reward token later spent more time and completed more work for reward tokens in mathematics, and handwriting. Two alternative interpretations of these results are evaluated: (a) The degree of accustomed effort per reinforcer becomes a learned component of behavior, or (b) high effort increases the habituation of frustration-produced disruptive responses. The results suggest that individual differences in general persistence may arise, in part, from an accumulation of effort training in the natural environment.

Transfer of persistence across behaviors.

Two experiments tested the applicability to human beings of findings with animals that the number of performances required for the reinforcement of one behavior affects the subsequent effort expended in other instrumental behaviors. In the first experiment, adult depressed psychiatric patients worked on a sorting task for the approval of a staff psychologist. The time spent and the work completed were increased by prior approval from a ward attendant for each completion of several custodial tasks, as compared to the ward attendant's approval for each completion of a single task or a no-pretreatment control condition. In the second experiment, preadolescent learning-disabled students who were required to read and spell correctly a greater number of words per reward token later spent more time and completed more work for reward tokens in mathematics, and handwriting. Two alternative interpretations of these results are evaluated: (a) The degree of accustomed effort per reinforcer becomes a learned component of behavior, or (b) high effort increases the habituation of frustration-produced disruptive responses. The results suggest that individual differences in general persistence may arise, in part, from an accumulation of effort training in the natural environment.

WIN 27,147-2 in the treatment of depression. An uncontrolled clinical study.

An uncontrolled clinical study with WIN 27,147-2 was conducted with 10 hospitalized depressed psychiatric patients. There was statistically significant improvement in the total scores of the HAM-D, BPRS and Zung; in the scores of all the factors of the HAM-D and Zung; in the scores of the anxiety/depression and activation factors of the BPRS, and in the scores of 6 of the 18 items of the BPRS. Judged by clinical global impression, 9 of the 10 patients were very much improved and 1 patient much improved. The most frequently occurring adverse effects were dry mouth, sweating, drowsiness and insomnia.

REM inhibitory effect of L-dopa infusion during human sleep

l-DOPA (25–50 mg) acutely inhibited REM sleep when infused intravenously during sleep in ten depressed psychiatric patients pretreated with a peripheral decarboxylase inhibitor (MK-485 or MK-486). Pre-REM infusions of l-DOPA delayed the onset of REM sleep while infusions at REM onset shortened the length of the REM period. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that catecholamines suppress REM.

Bender-Gestalt constriction as an indicator of depression in psychiatric patients.

Summary The present study explored the validity of constriction as an indicator of depression. Twenty-five patients displaying constriction in their Bender records and 25 patients not showing this indicator were compared with regard to MMPI Depression scores. A significant difference was found between D scores of these two groups (p<.05), supporting the validity of the indicator as an index of depression. Constriction was found to be infrequent, occurring in only 5.5% of the patient records. Although the indicator seems to be of some value as an indicator of depression its utility is lessened due its low rate of occurrence.

Effect of a sensory stimulus on an impaired membrane transport system in man.

CLINICAL observation suggests that increased sensory stimulation in depressed psychiatric patients results in a transient improvement in mood. Here, we describe results of an investigation designed to measure objectively the effect of a sensory stimulus on a cell transport mechanism in depressed patients and in normal subjects.

Facial expressions: An objective method in the quantitative evaluation of emotional change

A method is presented for obtaining a seriesofsilhouettes that were analyzed as profiles of the human face. When depressed psychiatric patients smiled before and after electroshock therapy, a greater facial displacement was recorded after treatment. Controls did not show any trend in this regard.

Selected Physiological and Psychomotor Correlates of Depression in Psychiatric Patients

Abstract Selected physiological and psychomotor variables of depressed and nondepressed psychiatric patients were investigated. A comparison of the fractionated MMPI D Scale and Zung's Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) was also made. A further subsidiary problem studied was the role of alcoholism in depression as it contributed to selected physiological and psychomotor variables. Participants in this study consisted of 69 male psychiatric patients between the ages of 20 and 50 years. All patients were tested within 48 hours after admission to the Toledo State Hospital and prior to the administration of medication. Previous research indicating that motor dysfunction was closely related to the degree of psychopathology was generally not substantiated by this investigation. It was concluded that the patient's verbalization of physiological and psychomotor retardation appeared to mirror his affective state rather than his physical competence. The SDS appeared to be the most efficacious method of assessing qu...

Relationship of monoamine metabolites in human cerebrospinal fluid to age.

HOMOVANILLIC acid (HVA) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5HIAA), metabolites of 5-hydroxytryptamine and dopamine, have been detected and measured in animal and human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (refs. 1–3). Although these substances in CSF probably derive from neuronal populations in the central nervous system, their precise relationship to altered brain function remains to be determined. Nevertheless, several clinical studies have reported a decrease in 5HIAA and HVA in certain groups of patients, notably depressed psychiatric patients and individuals suffering from Parkinsonism2–4. In the course of our studies on monoamine metabolites in CSF, we have found that values for these substances vary with age, both in psychiatric and neurological groups of patients. This finding may be crucial for the interpretation of values for CSF monoamine metabolites in clinical studies.

Sociocultural aspects of depression in medical inpatients. I. Frequency and social variables.

IN an earlier part of a comprehensive evaluation of depression in general medical inpatients, 1,2 we found that those with lower socioeconomic status scored higher than others on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). 3 A basic question was raised: how are social variables, especially class, related to the frequency of depressive illness in medical patients? We also wished to evaluate conventional methods (clinical examination and standard rating scales) for diagnosing depression—what are the class variations? Although interest in the sociology of mental illness has increased in the last 15 years, most studies focus on schizophrenia; also, a survey of the literature reveals a paucity of data concerning relationships between demographic characteristics and the frequency of depression among general medical inpatients. Age.—It has been commonly believed that the frequency of depression in psychiatric patients increases with age. Gutheil 4 states that older people are more easily

Size of figure drawings of depressed psychiatric patients.

Size of figure drawings of depressed psychiatric patients.

Bereavement in Childhood and Depressive Psychosis

There have been many reports of the high incidence of early parental loss among groups of patients suffering from various psycho-pathological disorders. Bowlby (1951) cited numerous relevant studies in his influential monograph, and Gregory (1958) has critically reviewed a dozen others. More recently Brown (1961) reported a significantly higher incidence of parental loss in childhood among depressed patients than among the general population, and Beck et al. (1963) found that the incidence among highly depressed psychiatric patients was higher than among non-depressed patients. Both these writers aver that their findings provide evidence that parental loss in childhood is a significant factor in the development of a depressive illness in adult life.

The dimensionality of clinical depression

Responses of 100 significantly depressed psychiatric patients to the sub-scales of the Beck Inventory of Depression were subjected to Maximum Likelihood factor analysis and orthogonal rotation. Results indicated that the inventory measures six meaningful dimensions, and it was concluded that the existing subjective classifications of depressive illness may be too simple. Comparisons with other factor analytical studies indicated that there is a similarity among the factors obtained in different studies, and in particular, that the largest factor appearing in all studies may be identified as a general factor of endogenous depression.

THE CONTROLLED EVALUATION OF IMIPRAMINE AND AMITRIPTYLINE IN HOSPITALIZED DEPRESSED PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS. A CONTRIBUTION TO THE METHODOLOGY OF DRUG EVALUATION.

1. Thirty acutely depressed patients were treated with imipramine and amitriptyline for periods of three weeks each in a double blind cross-over design. Twenty-four patients completed the six weeks study period. Clinical improvement on a highly significant level occurred for both drugs. No significant differences could be noted between drugs with the exception of a near significant difference existing at the ten day interval, amitriptyline producing more improvement than imipramine. However, this difference disappeared at the twenty day period. Amitriptyline appears to produce improvement somewhat faster than imipramine, but after about three weeks, imipramine has caught up with amitriptyline. Improvement with both drugs occurred within the first three weeks and could be maintained for another three weeks by the other agent, i.e., drugs were interchangeable after the first three week period. 2. The clinical change noted by the physician may not correspond with the subjective change reported by the patient. The patient may feel improved even though this improvement may not be noticeable to the physician. Even if noticeable, the patient may attribute more importance to such an improvement than does the physician. 3. A cross-over design appears to be inadequate in studies in which one may expect major change to occur within the initial study period. Furthermore, randomization of patients, according to a given criteria, does not necessarily provide randomization for other criteria (e.g., psychological test results in this study).

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEIGHT OF FIGURE DRAWINGS AND DEPRESSION IN PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEIGHT OF FIGURE DRAWINGS AND DEPRESSION IN PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS.

Orphenadrine in the treatment of depression; a preliminary study.

In this preliminary study, 14 psychiatric patients with depressive features were treated with orphenadrine to determine if the euphoric action, previously reported as a side-reaction in nonpsychiatric patients, occurs and is beneficial in depression. Two of the patients were rated as recovered; 9 showed beneficial effects including improved behavior, more optimism concerning the future, decreased anxiety and agitation. Further dies with adequate controls and a double blind technique are warranted to determine if orphenadrine can prove useful in the treatment of depressed psychiatric patients.