Tardive dyskinesia: a five year follow-up.

A group of chronic schizophrenic patients receiving prolonged treatment with neuroleptics was assessed in 1978 at an outpatient clinic to determine the prevalence of Tardive Dyskinesia. Those with TD were reassessed after two and five years with regard to change in TD severity. The Smith scale was used every time and, on the last assessment, the AIMS scale and videotaped interviews were added.

Prenatal gonadal hormones and schizophrenia in men and women.

Prenatal gonadal hormones organize human brains in sexually dimorphic patterns which are subtly different from each other. These subtle differences, in interaction with the environment, may be responsible for the somewhat different expression of schizophrenic illness in the two sexes.

Resistance to specialized services for AIDS patients within psychiatry.

Despite the opportunity of helpful intervention, palliation, and prevention in the form of psychosocial counselling, specialized services for AIDS patients and individuals-at-risk have met with resistance within psychiatry. Resistance can be understood as a reaction to the nature of the illness and its demographics. It can also be understood as an outgrowth of current psychiatric practice and theory, especially as it pertains to homosexuality.

Toward mastery of psychotic symptoms: a group phenomenon.

This paper describes a long-term, weekly, outpatient group for the management of recurrent psychotic manifestations. Emphasis is on the development of individual strategies that attenuate symptom distress and reinforce the sense of mastery. Illustrations are drawn from events occurring over the course of the life of the group.

Psychosis and positron tomography.

The new technology of positron emission tomography (PET) offers hope in developing objective biological indices and correlates of various psychotic states, including schizophrenia. PET is of the order of a million to a billion times more sensitive than MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and is now successfully measuring the densities of various brain neurotransmitter receptors in health and disease. PET data in schizophrenia patients confirm that delusions and hallucinations are controlled by neuroleptics when the D2 dopamine receptors are specifically blocked.

Anomalous motoric lateralization and schizophrenia: clinical implications.

Sixty-five schizophrenic subjects (46 men and 19 women) were tested for motor preference and compared to age and sex-matched controls. There were significantly more nondextrals among the schizophrenic women. Both male and female nondextral schizophrenics were hospitalized more frequently and for longer periods than dextral schizophrenics.

Current outcome in schizophrenia: women vs men.

This article reviews the 1980's literature on gender differences in schizophrenia outcome. Neuroleptic response, long-term course, and housing, appear to be superior in women. Mortality ratios are advantageous to schizophrenic men.

Determination of immunity to varicella-zoster virus by means of an intradermal skin test.

An intradermal varicella skin test, utilizing heat-inactivated noninfectious viral antigen, was evaluated in 16 adults known to be immune or susceptible to varicella and in 109 adults with no history of varicella. The skin test was well tolerated, compared favorably with established methods of determining immunity to varicella, and accurately predicted which subjects would develop clinical varicella after close exposure.

Younger man/older woman: a cautionary tale.

This is a single case study of a parallel relationship between (a) the patient and his romantic partner and (b) the patient and his therapist. While parallels such as these are not unusual in therapy and may, in fact, be universal, coincidences of age and duration facilitate the understanding of some of the competitive aspects of the patient-therapist-significant other triangle.

Clinical and demographic correlates of neuroleptic response.

This paper presents evidence that the positive symptoms of schizophrenia respond best to neuroleptics, as do patients with hyperdopaminergic activity (high blink rates, low prolactin levels). Those schizophrenics with defect states, intellectual and neurological impairment, brain atrophy, neuropsychological impairment, and poor school and social premorbid adjustment do not respond as well to dopamine blockers. It has been suggested that this group of schizophrenics do not suffer from a dopamine disturbance.

The epidemiology of schizophrenia.

Depending on the criteria used to diagnose schizophrenia, the incidence, prevalence and morbidity risk figures vary. Schizophrenia is probably a group of diseases with separate etiology for which biological markers are still lacking. Genetics and environment both play a part in schizophrenia, but their roles have not been specified.

Temporary muscle paralysis for accurate measurement of pulmonary artery occlusion pressure.

Succinylcholine, a short-acting neuromuscular blocking agent, was used to accurately measure the pulmonary artery occlusion pressure (PAOP) in eight patients requiring mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory failure, in whom measurement was difficult because of significant respiratory variation in PAOP. The mean decrease in PAOP after paralysis was 9.8 +/- 5.

Fluspirilene neuroleptic depot injections and indurations.

Local reactions at injection sites have limited the use of depot fluspirilene, an otherwise effective treatment for chronic schizophrenia. Thirty-nine reports of fluspirilene-treated patients were analyzed and the patients were examined for indurations. It was found that patients with indurations were given significantly higher doses and volumes of the drug.