Personality and psychosis: use of the Standardized Assessment of Personality

The Standardized Assessment of Personality, a semistructured interview for use with an informant, was used with a relative or a close friend to determine the premorbid personality of 100 consecutive patients admitted with major psychiatric disorders - major affective disorders (18 manics, 35 depressives), schizophrenia (28) and other functional psychoses (19). Forty-four per cent of the entire sample had an abnormal personality as defined by the presence of one of 10 prominent traits to a marked degree. A further 6% had the same traits to a lesser degree. The proportion of patients with an abnormal personality (all types) was comparable across the four diagnostic groups (manics 39%, depressives 54%, schizophrenics 39%, other functional psychotics 37%). However, if one included all traits (marked and mild), patients with an affective disorder had more between them than did the non-affective groups. This difference was largely accounted for by cyclothymic, anxious and obsessional traits. The schizophrenics and other functional psychotics had surprisingly few prominent traits and, in particular, a schizoid personality rarely preceded a schizophrenic illness.     

Cholinergic mechanisms in affective disorders. Future directions for investigation

Advances in clinical and basic research methodology combined with clearly articulated concepts create new opportunities for researching the roles of cholinergic mechanisms in the pathophysiology of affective disorders. Areas for study include: roles of cholinergic mechanisms in mediating effects of stress and cholinergic mechanisms linking the pathophysiologies of affective and panic disorders, use of pharmacologic agents to produce cholinergic system supersensitivity in modeling biologic aspects of affective illness, use of multigenerational intrapedigree studies of cholinergic markers associated with affective disease, research into the neurobiology of lithium and ECT as they pertain to muscarinic cholinergic mechanisms, study of the interrelationship of sodium, calcium and lithium ion metabolism and their relationship to cholinergic-monoaminergic interaction, the development of brain imaging strategies and techniques, e.g., positron emission tomography (PET), to measure changes in cholinergic receptor density and affinity as a function of clinical state, identification and validation of a peripheral model of the central muscarinic receptor, study of the pharmacology of abusable substances and its relationship to mechanisms regulating mood, affect, psychomotor function and other variables related to the affective disorders, and development of in vitro and in vivo models useful in studying the physiology and biochemistry of the interaction of cholinergic and monoaminergic neurons. These models may allow us to bridge the traditional cholinergic and monoamine hypotheses of affective disorders.     

拉莫三嗪与碳酸锂在躁狂症治疗中的对照研究

目的了解拉莫三嗪对躁狂症的治疗效果与不良反应。方法将符合CCMD-3诊断心境障碍躁狂相的患者117例，分为两组，完成8周的治疗观察。在治疗的第2、4、6、8周运用Bech—Rafaelsen躁狂量表（BRMS）和不良反应量表（TESS）评定疗效和副作用。结果在治疗后研究组与对照组BRMS量表分均较治疗前显著下降。两者间减分率差异无显著性（P〉0．05）。但研究组TESS量表评分较对照组低。结论拉莫三嗪在躁狂症治疗中与碳酸锂有着同等的效果，但副作用轻。     

Lithium for the Treatment of Acute Mania in Adolescents

This paper discusses issues around the diagnosis of mania and its acute treatment in adolescence. We review three cases of acute mania treated on an adolescent unit, highlighting some of the diagnostic difficulties. Each of these patients proved resistant to treatment with neuroleptics but responded to the addition of lithium carbonate. The clinical impression of a good response was supported by the use of the Children's Global Assessment Scale. We conclude that lithium carbonate can be useful in the treatment of acute mania in adolescence. It is an illness of which child psychiatrists need to be aware as one third of cases present in adolescence.     

Researching the pathophysiology of pediatric bipolar disorder.

We suggest that the core feature of bipolar disorder (BPD) is marked state fluctuations. The pathophysiology of switches into depressed, irritable, and extreme positive valence states requires study, with the latter deserving particular focus because it represents a pathognomonic feature of BPD in both adults and children. Hypotheses regarding the pathophysiology of pediatric BPD must account for these marked state fluctuations as well as for specific developmental aspects of the illness. These developmental aspects include marked irritability (in addition to euphoria and depression) and very rapid cycles, along with high rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. We review research on neural mechanisms underlying positive valence states and state regulation, focusing on those data relevant to BPD and to development. Researchers are beginning to explore the response of manic patients and control subjects to positive affective stimuli, and considerable research in both nonhuman primates and humans has focused on the cortico-limbic-striatal circuits mediating responses to rewarding stimuli. In control subjects, positive affect affects cognition, and data indicate that prefrontal electroencephalogram asymmetry may differ between control subjects with consistently positive affect and those with more negative affect; however, this latter generalization may not apply to adolescents. With regard to the pathophysiology of state switching in pediatric BPD, data in control subjects indicating that attention regulation plays a role in emotion regulation may be germane. In addition, research detailing physiologic and psychological responses to negative emotional stimuli in bipolar patients and control subjects may increase our understanding of the mechanisms underlying both irritability and rapid cycling seen in children with BPD. Potential foci for research on the pathophysiology of pediatric BPD include reactivity to standardized positive and negative emotional stimuli, and the interaction between emotion regulation and attentional processes.     

Is preadolescent mania the same condition as adult mania? A British perspective.

Until relatively recently, the prevailing view was that mania was uncommon in preadolescent children. In the past 15 years, however, there has been increasing interest in the idea that mania may be much more common at younger ages than previously recognized. This article is concerned with the issue of whether preadolescent mania represents the same kind of problem as adult mania. It reviews concepts of bipolar disorder and mania in adults and preadolescents, some of the issue that arise in diagnosing mania in children, and the evidence for continuities between preadolescent and adult mania. The diagnosis of mania in preadolescent children often requires that inferences are made about the meaning of some symptoms but it is not always clear that these inferences are valid. It is concluded that the extant evidence does not provide a clear conclusion about the links between preadolescent and adult mania. More work is needed on the phenomenology and diagnosis of mania in children, on its natural history and on its familial correlates.     

The genetics of pediatric-onset bipolar disorder.

Although bipolar disorder in adults has been extensively studied, early-onset forms of the disorder have received less attention. We review several lines of evidence indicating that pediatric- and early adolescent-onset bipolar disorder cases may prove the most useful for identifying susceptibility genes. Family studies have consistently found a higher rate of bipolar disorder among the relatives of early-onset bipolar disorder patients than in relatives of later-onset cases, which supports the notion of a larger genetic contribution to the early-onset cases. Comorbid pediatric bipolar disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may also define a familial subtype of ADHD or bipolar disorder that is strongly influenced by genetic factors and may, therefore, be useful in molecular genetic studies. There are no twin and adoption studies of pediatric bipolar disorder, but the heritability of this subtype is expected to be high given the results from family studies. Thus, pediatric- and early adolescent-onset bipolar disorder may represent a genetically loaded and homogeneous subtype of bipolar disorder, which, if used in genetic linkage and association studies, should increase power to detect risk loci and alleles.     

复发性躁狂症的3年随访

目的　探讨复发性躁狂症的临床特征及诊断稳定性 ,为CCMD 3制定标准提供科学数据。方法　作为全国CCMD 3现场测试的一部分 ,从 1996年至 2 0 0 0年 ,全国 16所精神卫生机构的 34位医师参加本研究 ,评定员对使用的RTHD等量表进行了一致性测试 ,其Kappa =0 91,选择符合CCMD 2R标准的 5 4例复发性躁狂症患者。确定 37例 (6 8 5 % )进行 3年的前瞻性随访观察。结果　 5 4例患者中男性 35例 ,女性 19例 ,平均年龄 (37± 10 )岁 ;发作次数达 3次或 3次以上 ;入组时均处于躁狂发作期 ,并在住院治疗 ;平均总病程 (113 3± 10 2 5 )月 ,平均本次病程 (3 5± 9 1)月 ,病程类型为发作性者 4 7例 (87 0 % )。本组患者以情感性症状为主 ,其中情感高涨发生率为 94 1% ,易激惹发生率为 81 5 % ,4 0 7%伴有精神病性症状如妄想。 1年时随访到 32例患者 ,均保持原诊断 ,无 1例抑郁发作。 3年末随访的 2 7例患者中 ,2 5例保持原诊断。 2例出现抑郁发作 ,更改为双相障碍抑郁相。结论　我国确实存在复发性躁狂症 ,该诊断稳定性高 ,故CCMD 3继续保持其分类学地位