An open-label trial of venlafaxine in body dysmorphic disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), a preoccupation with imagined ugliness, is a disabling condition that seems to respond preferentially to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. This open-label trial examines venlafaxine's efficacy in BDD and is the first known study of this serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor in BDD. METHODS: A total of 17 BDD patients 16-65 years of age entered and 11 completed a 12-16 week open-label trial of venlafaxine. Participants were treated with venlafaxine until a therapeutic dose (minimum of 150 mg/day) was reached and then maintained at that dose for 8 weeks. Key outcome measures were the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale Modified for Body Dysmorphic Disorder and Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement scale. RESULTS: Venlafaxine was found to be effective in lessening the specific symptoms and global severity of BDD. Paired t-tests were used to compare baseline and final ratings on the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale Modified for Body Dysmorphic Disorder total, obsessions, and compulsions scores; by this measure venlafaxine significantly reduced BDD symptoms overall (P=.012), as well as obsessions (P=.034) and compulsions specifically (P=.021). A single sample t-test, comparing final Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement scale ratings to "no change" (score: 4) found significant improvement following treatment. CONCLUSION: Venlafaxine may be an effective treatment for BDD, including both obsessive and compulsive symptoms. Controlled research on venlafaxine in BDD is recommended.

A preliminary study of cortisol and norepinephrine reactivity to psychosocial stress in borderline personality disorder with high and low dissociation.

The goal of the current study was to investigate subjective and neurohormonal reactivity to acute psychosocial stress in borderline personality disorder (BPD) as a function of dissociative symptoms. Five BPD subjects with high dissociation, 8 BPD subjects with low dissociation, and 11 healthy control subjects were compared in basal urinary cortisol and norepinephrine, as well as in plasma cortisol and norepinephrine reactivity to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). Subjective stress rating and emotional response to the TSST were also measured. The three groups differed significantly in cortisol stress reactivity, with the high-dissociation BPD group demonstrating the most robust response. The three groups did not significantly differ in norepinephrine stress reactivity. In the combined BPD sample, dissociation severity tended to be inversely correlated with basal urinary norepinephrine, was positively correlated with norepinephrine stress reactivity. Childhood trauma was inversely correlated with basal urinary cortisol. In conclusion, despite its small sample size this pilot study suggests that dissociative symptomatology may be a marker of heightened biological vulnerability to stress in BPD, and merits further study.

Imaging monetary reward in pathological gamblers.

We acquired two 18F-deoxyglucose positron emisssion tomography (PET) scans on seven unmedicated pathological gamblers, at least 7 days apart. Following an injection of 5 mCi FDG, subjects carried out a computer blackjack task for 35 min under two different reward conditions: monetary reward and computer game points only. Relative FDG metabolic rate was obtained from regions of interest in the prefrontal cortex, cingulate, striatum and visual cortex. Monetary reward blackjack was associated with significantly higher relative metabolic rate in the primary visual cortex (Brodmann area 17), the cingulate gryus (Brodmann area 24), the putamen and prefrontal areas 47 and 10, compared to blackjack playing for points only. No area tested showed a significant decrease. This pattern suggests heightened limbic and sensory activation in the gambling for money condition with increased emotional valence and greater risk and reward, and confirms the salience of monetary reward in the development of pathological gambling.