Depressive pseudodementia in a child with autism

Depression is rare in early childhood and unusual in autism in this age group. We describe a female child aged 6 years with autism who presented with regression of developmental skills previously gained. Her sleep and appetite were poor, her affect was sad, and she had morbid speech content. She responded to treatment with antidepressant medication. When this clinical picture occurs in adults it is called depressive pseudodementia; paediatric neurologists and neuropsychiatrists need to be aware of it in children.     

Pierre Briquet: 19th century savant with 20th century ideas

This paper describes what is known about Briquet's life and character based on obituaries published in medical literature shortly after his death. It reviews his later writings on hysteria and integrates these with the Treatise published in 1859. Finally it summarizes the opinions of his immediate successors such as Charcot, Richer, de la Tourette and Janet; all of whom referred favourably to Briquet in the course of their writings on hysteria.     

Melancholic subtyping: a qualitative or quantitative distinction?

Melancholic depressed subjects scored significantly higher than did nonmelancholic subjects both on the depressive symptoms used and those not used for melancholic subtyping. The results suggest that DSM-III's melancholic criteria do not identify a qualitatively distinct subgroup, but instead reflect illness severity.     

Jules Bernard Luys: a singular figure of 19th century neurology

Jules Bernard Luys was a highly industrious and dedicated French investigator who made important contributions to the fields of neuroanatomy and neuropsychiatry in the second half of the 19th century. His name is still eponymically attached to the subthalamic nucleus and the centre médian nucleus, two structures that are at the center of our current thinking about the functional organization of the basal ganglia and the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease. While developing a highly original view of the anatomical and functional organization of the human brain, Luys contributed significantly to our knowledge of the neuropathological and clinical aspects of mental illnesses. Luys devoted the last part of his career to hysteria and hypnosis, engaging himself in experiments as extravagant as the action of medication at distance. In doing so, he became perhaps the most highly caricatured example of the fascination that hysteria exerted upon various renowned neurologists at the end of the 19th century. This paper briefly summarizes the contribution of this remarkable figure of the history of neurology.     

Human brain growth in the 19th and 20th century

Data of 2399 brain weights and ages from populations before 1880, 1885 to 1900 and 1966 to 1976 were obtained from German anatomical and pathological institutes, analyzed with non-linear and multiple linear regression analyses and the results compared. The influence of the absolute age (sample period) on brain weights of adults (age of at least 10 years of ontogenesis) could not be verified. Different averages in the different samples seem to be stipulated by inhomogeneities of the age distributions. Sex differences were confirmed for the different periods.

There is an accelerated degree of maturity of brain weights between the population sampled from 1966 to 1976 and the two older populations. The growth rate of the degree of maturity reveals the same fact, i.e., the growth rate is more rapid than 100 years ago. These differences may be explained by changed causes of death in the autopsy samples, but it is possible that they are at least partly caused by an acceleration of brain development in the early postnatal period. In all populations analyzed brain weights in females develop faster than in males.

The development of the brain weight in 6 more samples is compared with the results for the Medical School Hannover sample.     

Ubi irritatio, ibi affluxus: a 19th century perspective on haemodynamic brain activity

The impact of cognitive operations on haemodynamic activity in the human brain is a cornerstone of modern cognitive neuroscience. This essay presents an early speculation about why there is increased blood flow following cognitive operations: Emil Harleß, a 19th century German physiologist, proposed that this blood flow responds to irritations caused by “the will” in order to restore homeostasis. Peculiar from a modern perspective, this speculation shows how neuroscientific concepts – and corresponding perspectives on cognitive function – have changed over the centuries.     

Biased objectivity--images of women in 19th century German neuroscience

At the beginning of the 19 (th) century German scholars wanted to differentiate men and women on the basis of anatomic brain or cerebrum particularities. With the help of scientific criteria such as the weight of the brain they aimed not only to prove pre-postulated intellectual differences, but also to find scientific justification for the inferiority of women in general and their inferior position and treatment in society. This paper presents insights into and excerpts from studies written by renowned scientists such as S. T. von Soemmerring, J. F. Ackermann, K. F. Burdach, F. Tiedemann, E. Huschke, H. Schaaffhausen, or P. J. M?bius. Covering the years from 1780 to 1900, these materials show how at the beginning the interest was primarily in comparative anatomic studies and results, but was soon mingled with sociological intentions. Hence this study gives insights into the history of modern gender studies of neurosciences.     

Obsessive-compulsive disorder: its conceptual history in France during the 19th century

Until the 1850s, obsessive-compulsive phenomena were considered to be a variant of the old notion of insanity. Around this time they became a separate disease: first, as a member of the old class of the neuroses; then, briefly, as a variant of the newly formed notion of psychosis; and finally, as a neurosis proper (in the post-1880s sense). These changes reflected theoretical shifts in the definition of the grand psychiatric categories. After 1860, organic causal hypotheses for OCD included dysfunctions of the autonomic nervous system and cortical blood supply. Psychological hypotheses suggested the OCD might result from volitional, intellectual, or emotional impairment, the last of which predominated after 1890. Issues relating OCD to personality types and hereditability were dealt with in terms of the degeneration theory. By the late 1880s, OCD achieved full clinical and nosological definition.     

Depressive disorders in caregivers of dementia patients: a systematic review

Although depressive symptomatology has been well studied in caregivers of patients with dementia, depressive disorders have been examined much less. We conducted a systematic literature search in major bibliographical databases (Medline, Psychinfo, Dissertation Abstracts), and included studies examining caregivers of dementia patients that reported the prevalence of major depressive disorder, according to diagnostic criteria as assessed with a standardized psychiatric diagnostic interview. Ten studies with a total of 790 caregivers were identified (sample sizes: 22-147). In only one of the studies, a representative community sample was used. A total of 176 subjects (22.3%) had a depressive disorder (prevalence range from 0.15-0.32). In the three studies reporting differential prevalence rates for men and women somewhat smaller prevalence rates were found for men than for women. In six studies caregivers were compared to a (mostly matched) control group. The relative risks of having a depressive disorder in caregivers ranged from 2.80-38.68 (all RR's were significant). In the three prospective studies relatively high incidence rates were found (0.48). This study made it clear that prevalence and incidence of depressive disorders are increased in caregivers of dementia patients. More research is clearly needed in this population.