Psychotic depressive disorder. A separate entity?

Two groups of patients suffering from primary unipolar major depressive disorder, one with (n = 145) and one without (n = 119) psychotic disorders were compared, in order to elucidate whether psychotic depressive disorder represents a distinct subtype or a severe variation of the illness. Except for more frequent appearance of psychomotor disturbances among the psychotic depressives, no demographic, family history and course variables were found to distinguish between those with or without psychotic features. The findings from our study are compatible with the view that psychotic depressive disorder is a severe variant of major depressive illness.

Seasonality of the episodes of recurrent affective psychoses. Possible prophylactic interventions.

This study is an attempt to ascertain whether evidence for seasonal variations of the episodes of recurrent affective psychoses can be found in patients in Greece. Due allowance has been made for the fact that different socio-cultural and above all climatological factors prevail in Greece as opposed to other countries, which might be relevant in the phenomenon of seasonality. The seasonal distribution of the psychotic episodes, either depressive or manic, has been examined for 533 patients with various forms of affective psychoses, admitted to and treated in the State Mental Hospital of Athens, Greece, during the last 50 years. Statistically significant seasonal variation with peaks in spring was found for both depressive and manic episodes of various subgroups of patients, divided according to the I.C.D.-9.

Prevalence of DSM III schizophrenia among the first-degree relatives of schizophrenic probands.

The extent of the genetic component, if any, in DSM III schizophrenia still remains unresolved. To further examine the issue, the first-degree relatives of 116 DSM III schizophrenic probands in our department were compared with those of an equal number of normal subjects, randomly selected and matched for age and sex. More than three fourths of the surviving relatives of each group were interviewed and rated according to DSM III criteria. Information of varying degrees of completeness was obtained about the remainder (surviving and dead). The gathered data were sufficiently detailed to provide general evidence that schizophrenia, and schizophrenia-related personality disorders were significantly more common in the first-degree relatives of DSM III schizophrenic probands than in the relatives of the controls. These findings suggest that even narrowly defined schizophrenia, such as that obtained by using DSM III criteria, has also a genetic component.