The sequelae from head injuries can be psychological, physical, and
cognitive. Rates of depression are high soon after a head injury, but little
is known about the long-term prevalence of depression after injury. Holsinger et al
(SEE ARTICLE) report that
rates of depression are also elevated decades after a head injury and that
lifetime risk of depression increased with severity of head injury.
A commentary by Robinson and Jorge is included. (SEE ARTICLE)
Suhara et al (SEE ARTICLE) used positron emission tomography to examine the extrastriatal D2
receptors in schizophrenic patients. Drug-naive schizophrenics showed a regional
decrease in D2 receptors in the anterior cingulate cortex with
negative correlation to the positive symptom score on the Brief Psychiatric
Rating Scale. These findings suggest that alterations in D2 receptor
function in the cerebral cortex may play a role in the causation of schizophrenia.
A commentary by Wong is included. (SEE ARTICLE)
In a magnetic resonance imaging study of schizophrenic patients, their
siblings, and controls, Cannon et al (SEE ARTICLE) found that a history of fetal hypoxia is associated with greater structural
brain pathology among patients with schizophrenia and their nonschizophrenic
siblings than among controls at low genetic risk for the disorder.
In a community-based study of a large and ethnically diverse sample
of young adults, Turner and Gil (SEE ARTICLE)
found that more than 60% have experienced a psychiatric or substance disorder
at some time in their lives. African Americans were found to have substantially
lower lifetime rates of depressive and substance disorders than other groups
and, among Hispanics, rates tend to be lower among the foreign-born than among
their US-born counterparts. These results suggest the importance of intervention
efforts during early adolescence.
By combining information from a psychiatric examination, a key informant
interview, and medical records, Östling and Skoog (SEE ARTICLE) found that 10% of nondemented 85-year-olds experienced
hallucinations or delusions and 6% had paranoid ideation. These symptoms were
associated with sensory impairments, cardiovascular disorders, development
of dementia, and increased mortality. They conclude that psychotic symptoms
in old age are more frequent than previously thought and that it is crucial
to obtain information from multiple sources in the clinical evaluation of
elderly patients.
A commentary by Breitner is included. (SEE ARTICLE)
Tohen et al (SEE ARTICLE) compared
the efficacy and safety of treatment of bipolar disorder with either of 2
conventionally used drugs, lithium or valproate, vs combined therapy consisting
of either drug added to the atypical antipsychotic olanzapine. The olanzapine
cotherapies were found to improve patients' levels of mania significantly
more than the monotherapies, and levels of depression were dramatically improved
by cotherapy. These findings show that the addition of olanzapine may provide
superior efficacy in the treatment of manic or mixed bipolar episodes.
Posternak and Zimmerman (SEE ARTICLE) rigorously evaluated a large cohort of depressed psychiatric outpatients
and tested multiple hypotheses regarding how depressed patients with atypical
features would differ from those without atypical features. The results offer
some support for the validity of the atypical features subtype but suggest
that the diagnostic criteria set may require further modification.
Mojtabai et al (SEE ARTICLE) examine factors beyond severity and comorbidity in pathways to mental health
specialty care. They show that different factors affect perceived need, decisions
to seek help and professional mental health utilization. They illustrate the
need for more targeted educational and behavioral change strategies to close
the gap between need and appropriate care.
Despite its long use in clinical settings, the infamous reputation of
hypnosis has darkened its research potential to cognitive science. Current
techniques open new opportunities to use hypnosis and posthypnotic suggestion
as probes into neural mechanisms and reciprocally provide a means of studying
hypnosis itself. Raz and Shapiro (SEE ARTICLE) describe not only how hypnotism can provide a way to tap neurocognitive
questions but also how cognitive assays can in turn shed new light on the
neural bases of hypnosis.
