[ERPs (N200, P300 and CNV) in alcoholics: relapse risk assessment].

The cognitive event-related potentials were studied in a group of 55 alcoholic patients, paired in age and sex with a group of 18 control subjects, using a protocol oddball (visual and auditory) and a protocol VCN Go/Nogo. The N200 obtained using an auditory oddball paradigm had lower amplitude in alcoholics than in controls. A significant amplitude decrease of visual P300 was also observed in alcoholic male subjects.

[Interest of neurophysiological exploration in clinical psychiatry].

Cerebral functional exploration using Event related potentials (ERPs) is greatly relevant in clinical psychiatry. Although ERP usefulness as a diagnostic tool is limited due to the complexity of psychiatric diagnosis, which raises theoretical, methodological and ethical problems that cannot be resolved by neurobiological methods, ERP offers relevant information in 3 different topics: the choice of psychotropes in pharmacotherapy; the description and understanding of cognitive processes; the psychotherapeutic relation. 1) Converging arguments from experimental studies support the hypothesis that the amplitude of P300 and CNV as well as the loudness dependence of the auditory N1/P2 response (LDAEP) are regulated by central catecholaminergic and serotoninergic neurotransmission.

[Study of the stress response: role of anxiety, cortisol and DHEAs].

Aim Of The Study: Several studies have exhibited the psychological processes that are implied in the stress response and have shown, according to Selye's research, the participation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the major role of cortisol. The possible action of another adrenal steroïd, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), is increasingly documented. The beneficial effect of the latter and his antistress role would be related to an antagonistic action to that of cortisol.

[Interindividual variability of contingent negative variation].

The use of CNV in clinical practice requires the choice of a standardised protocol, the constitution of reference normative data and the consideration of intra- and interindividual variability. For this purpose, we recorded CNV in 86 control subjects (44 men and 42 women, 18 to 62 years old (mean age = 34 +/- 13 years) during a reaction time paradigm with a warning signal and a 1-second S1-S2 interval. Moreover, the role of inter-stimulation interval was analysed in a group of 12 subjects through the comparison of recordings made with 1- and 3-second intervals.

[Opioid addiction: P300 assessment in treatment by methadone substitution].

The aim of this study was to assess cognitive functions in two clinical conditions, namely during heroin detoxification and during substitution treatment by methadone. Two groups of chronic heroin user inpatients, meeting DSM-III-R criteria for concurrent opiate dependence, were tested using an auditory oddball paradigm of P300. The first group (four women and six men) were drug-free and the second (five women, ten men) received methadone treatment.