Parakinesia: A Delphi consensus report.

Abnormal movements are intrinsic to some forms of endogenous psychoses. Spontaneous dyskinesias are observed in drug-naïve first-episode patients and at-risk subjects. However, recent descriptions of spontaneous dyskinesias may actually represent the rediscovery of a more complex phenomenon, 'parakinesia' which was described and documented in extensive cinematographic recordings and long-term observations by German and French neuropsychiatrists decades before the introduction of antipsychotics.

The polysemous concepts of psychomotricity and catatonia: A European multi-consensus perspective.

Current classification systems use the terms "catatonia" and "psychomotor phenomena" as mere a-theoretical descriptors, forgetting about their theoretical embedment. This was the source of misunderstandings among clinicians and researchers of the European collaboration on movement and sensorimotor/psychomotor functioning in schizophrenia and other psychoses or ECSP. Here, we review the different perspectives, their historical roots and highlight discrepancies.

Wernicke-Kleist-Leonhard phenotypes of endogenous psychoses: a review of their validity .

While the ICD-DSM paradigm has been a major advance in clinical psychiatry, its usefulness for biological psychiatry is debated. By defining consensus-based disorders rather than empirically driven phenotypes, consensus classifications were not an implementation of the biomedical paradigm. In the field of endogenous psychoses, the Wernicke-Kleist-Leonhard (WKL) pathway has optimized the descriptions of 35 major phenotypes using common medical heuristics on lifelong diachronic observations.

Hypofrontality in schizophrenic patients and its relevance for the choice of antipsychotic medication: an event-related potential study.

Objectives: One of the neurobiological core features of schizophrenic illnesses is a hypo-functionality of the frontal cortex ("cerebral hypofrontality"). The two major classes of antipsychotic medication differ regarding their impact on frontal lobe function and metabolism, with a presumably more positive effect of "atypical" compared to "typical" agents. To date, neurobiological markers reliably predicting the treatment response to different antipsychotics are lacking.

Decreasing the minimum length criterion for an episode of hypomania: evaluation using self-reported data from patients with bipolar disorder.

Brief hypomania lasting less than 4 days may impair functioning and help to detect bipolarity. This study analyzed brief hypomania that occurred in patients with bipolar disorder who were diagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria. Daily self-reported mood ratings were obtained from 393 patients (247 bipolar I and 146 bipolar II) for 6 months (75,284 days of data, mean 191.

Panic disorder and a possible treatment approach by means of high-frequency rTMS: a case report.

Panic disorder still remains a pervasive, life quality impairing disorder requiring adequate treatment options. In this case report we present the data of a patient with panic disorder and comorbid depression who was treated with high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) applied to the left prefrontal cortex over a course of 3 weeks. Measurements of the cerebral oxygenation with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) during an emotional Stroop task before and after the rTMS treatment suggests that rTMS may modulate panic-related prefrontal brain dysfunctions in panic patients and that it may serve as a possible treatment option for anxiety disorders.

Strategies for reducing test anxiety and optimizing exam preparation in German university students: a prevention-oriented pilot project of the University of Würzburg.

Test anxiety is a significant problem among university students which is frequently accompanied by a decline in performance and severe psychological problems. Studies of treatment methods of test anxiety were identified using literature searches of the Cochrane Library database of randomized controlled trials. A variety of intervention techniques for the treatment of test anxiety was detected, from which cognitive behavioral methods were found to be most effective for the treatment of test anxiety.

Is FKBP5 a genetic marker of affective psychosis? A case control study and analysis of disease related traits.

Background: A dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been proposed as an important pathogenic factor in depression. Genetic variants of FKBP5, a protein of the HPA system modulating the glucocorticoid receptor, have been reported to be genetically associated with improved response to medical treatment and an increase of depressive episodes.

Methods: We examined three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in FKBP5, rs4713916 in the proposed promoter region, rs1360780 in the second intron and rs3800373 in the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR), in a case-control study of Caucasian origin (affective psychosis: n = 248; controls: n = 188) for genetic association and association with disease related traits.

Association study of 5'-UTR polymorphisms of the human dopamine transporter gene with manic depression.

Objectives: To determine the degree of association of five single nucleotide polymorphisms at the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) of the human dopamine transporter gene (hSLC6A3; hDAT1) in bipolar affective disorder.

Methods: In a case-control design study, the polymorphisms were genotyped for allelic and genotypic distribution between 105 index cases (50 males) with bipolar affective disorder according to DSM IV and 199 unaffected control subjects (120 males).

Results: At the 5'-UTR locus of hSLC6A3, no significant allelic or genotypic differences were observed between index cases and controls.

Family-based study of markers at the 5'-flanking region of the human dopamine transporter gene reveals potential association with schizophrenic psychoses.

The dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia proposes an inherited or acquired presynaptic hyperactivity of dopaminergic neurons. The human dopamine transporter gene (hSLC6A3; hDAT) represents one major mechanism for the termination of dopaminergic neurotransmission. This study examines the degree of genetic association of the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) of the hSLC6A3 to schizophrenia in a family-based association design.

Facial affect decoding in schizophrenic disorders: a study using event-related potentials.

Deficits in emotional processing are evident in schizophrenia, but the underlying processes are still under debate. In this study we tried to replicate findings of diminished prefrontal electroencephalographic response during facial affect recognition in healthy controls and subsequently in schizophrenic patients. As a first step, we analysed the event-related potentials (ERPs) of 36 healthy subjects during emotional expression decoding compared with neutral face viewing.

ZDHHC8 as a candidate gene for schizophrenia: analysis of a putative functional intronic marker in case-control and family-based association studies.

Background: The chromosome 22q11 region is proposed as a major candidate locus for susceptibility genes to schizophrenia. Recently, the gene ZDHHC8 encoding a putative palmitoyltransferase at 22q11 was proposed to increase liability to schizophrenia based on both animal models and human association studies by significant over-transmission of allele rs175174A in female, but not male subjects with schizophrenia.

Methods: Given the genetic complexity of schizophrenia and the potential genetic heterogeneity in different populations, we examined rs175174 in 204 German proband-parent triads and in an independent case-control study (schizophrenic cases: n = 433; controls: n = 186).

Differences in quality of life and course of illness between cycloid and schizophrenic psychoses - a comparative study.

Objective: Cycloid psychoses represent a nosological entity not adequately recognised by contemporary psychiatry. They present with full recoveries after each psychotic episode and, thus, have a favourable prognosis.

Method: To verify this clinical observation course, outcome and quality of life (QoL, measured by the German version of the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile) of 33 patients with cycloid psychosis and 44 schizophrenics were compared after a mean time of 13 years since first hospitalisation.

Susceptibility to neuroleptic-induced parkinsonism--age and increased substantia nigra echogenicity as putative risk factors.

Objective: Patients treated by neuroleptics often develop neuroleptic-induced parkinsonism (NIP) to a varying extent. The reasons for this are discussed controversially in the literature. Previous transcranial sonography (TCS) findings of the substantia nigra (SN) in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease suggest a correlation of echogenicity with nigrostriatal dysfunction.

The concept of hebephrenia over the course of time with particular reference to the Wernicke-Kleist-Leonhard School.

The concept of hebephrenia has undergone more changes than almost any other diagnostic category in clinical psychiatry. In the present article we want to outline these changes from Hecker's first description of hebephrenia to contemporary concepts mainly based on Bleuler's viewpoints. Due to rather heterogeneous and vaguely defined symptomatology, hebephrenia lost relevance as a diagnostic category in today's classification systems.