[The clinicopsychological and therapeutic significance in the depression-pain relationship].

The frequency of depression-pain association, gives the authors the opportunity of evaluating the actual pattern of managing pain according to its sensory-discriminatory, affective-emotional, cognitive and behavioral features. The neurophysiologic, affective and psychologic factors generally correlate in the induction and evolution of pain, being dependent on the individual reactivity environmental and socio-cultural relations. The efficacy of antidepressive drugs in the therapy of pain, explained by their action on the serotoninergic systems, advocates the clinical relationship depression-pain, but also their analgesic properties independent from the thymoanaleptic effect.

Psychopathological relationships in depressive illness.

The evolution of the clinical concepts regarding depressive syndromes underlines the need for correlating the epidemiological, clinical and etiopathogenic data for elaborating the classification, quantification and psychopathologic assessment systems. The psychological investigation, complementary to clinical examination and adapted to patient's subjective condition, requires an improvement of its methods in view of bringing more information necessary for stating the differential psychodiagnosis and for a proper psychotherapy. The analysis of motivations and the psychopathologic relationships in the depressive states render evident the factorial complexity and the need of a clinical, psychological, genetic, biochemical, experimental and therapeutic approach.

[The significance of the anxiety factor in neurotiform-depressive states].

As part of the clinical psychological investigations, tests were used for determining the share of anxiety factor in the neurotiform-depressive states. The constituent elements of anxiety factors are discussed, those which might have significance being outlined. The authors plead for the use of insight therapy, as part of the complex clinical treatment, in those cases where the performed tests indicate the likelihood of a good response to such a therapy.

[Trends in the classification of depressive states].

The evolution of the clinical concept of depression from the viewpoint of actual epidemiological data and classification systems is presented. The classification difficulties, due to the reference criteria and absence of some concordant data, which lead to the elaboration of some systematizations prevalently syndromic, are revealed. The uncertainty of the nosological framing of the depressive states is reflected in the diagnostic disagreements of the various doctrinaire orientations in psychiatry.

[Lithium carbonate (Contemnol--Spofa). A clinical study].

The estimation of the present day stage in the therapy with lithium salts allowed the authors some considerations on the mechanisms of action and pharmacodynamics of lithium ion, as well as on the indications and counterindications, side effects and therapeutical management. Thus, the authors have analysed the findings of a simple-blind clinical study on lithium carbonate (Contemnol--Spofa) in a series of 15 inpatients. The research methodology included the thorough examination of the patients, blood lithium screening, psychological investigations and laboratory tests on the basis of an itemized investigation card.