An association between subcortical dementia and pernicious anemia--a psychiatric mask.

A case report from our psychiatric ward demonstrates the emergence of two different organic pathologies, a subcortical dementia and a pernicious anemia, preceded by a psychiatric presentation mimicking a dementia of depression. We emphasize that the psychiatric mask and the lack of other clinical and paraclinical cobalamin deficiency signs were the chief obstacles to early diagnosis. Only a complete and thorough assessment allowed the real diagnosis.

[Attitude of psychiatrists to electrotherapy].

Psychiatrists practising in South-Eastern regions of France answered a questionnaire whose objective was to evaluate the technical conditions of the use of electroconvulsivotherapy (ECT), and to ascertain the way in which this therapy affected the lives of the patients (ECT is currently experiencing a revival in neuropsychiatric literature). Among the 400 psychiatrists who gave a complete response to the questionnaire, 22 per cent stated that they use ECT to treat inpatients. The authors try to define a typology of ECT users and non-users.

[A 15 years' follow-up of use of lithium at the Department of Psychiatry of Marseille University. Data concerning the follow-up of 205 patients].

The authors report descriptive data from a follow-up study of 205 patients taking lithium therapy and treated at the Department of Psychiatry (Marseille, France), during a 15 years period (1972-1987). Methods of investigation consisted in a detailed examination of their hospital and clinic case notes and in medical interviews of psychiatrists in charge of patients. 25 features have been selected in order to precise clinical and biological characteristics of patients: Diagnosis (INSERM, ICD9), family history of psychiatric disorders, illness course, salt used, serum and erythrocytes lithium levels, dose maintenance, additional medications, psychological and physical side effects, compliance with medication and clinical response.

[Therapeutic indications of S-adenosyl methionine in neuropsychiatry].

Studies conducted by Italian and Anglo-saxon authors underline the thymoanaleptic properties of a transmethylant biological substance, the S-adenosyl methionine (SAMe). The authors discuss a review of literature concerning the use of SAMe in neuro-psychiatry, particularly in the treatment of affective disorders. The many physiopathological implications are subtended by the biological inter-relations of SAMe with other biological substances.