A 32 year old woman with untreated primary adenocortical insufficiency presented with prominent depressive symptoms. Upon treatment with physiological doses of glucocorticoids she developed a self-limiting acute manic illness. We suggest that up-regulation of hippocampal glucocorticoid receptors as a consequence of prolonged hypocortisolaemia resulted in increased cerebral sensitivity to exogen...

Reduced perceptual span has been suggested to be a cognitive marker of vulnerability to schizophrenia. However, the specificity of this impairment in visual information processing to schizophrenia is not well established. This preliminary study examined perceptual span in schizophrenic and manic patients divided into subgroups with and without active symptomatology. Symptomatic patients had red...

influence the perception of psychiatric symptoms.We examined the effects of cultural biases onthe identification of manic symptomsusing theYoung Mania Rating Scale.Twovideo interviews, each with an Americanpersonwithmania, were shownto psychiatrists fromthree countries (US,UKand India).Total scores onthe scale differed significantlybetween the US and UK (P50.001) andbetween India and UK (P50.00...

The authors report four cases of Monopolar Depressed patients who developed manic features for the first time while on tricyclic antidepressant therapy. The phenomenon is viewed as tricyclic antidepressant induced mania. The manic symptoms occurred late in therapy, with moderate doses of tricyclic antidepressants (125-150 mg per day) and were easily controlled with antipsychotic medication. Fac...

Neuropsychiatric complications of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) may present clinically as acute or chronic organic brain syndrome, or mimic functional psychiatric diseases. Among such psychiatric diseases, mania tends to occur with increased frequency after the onset of AIDS. We report a case in which manic manifestations were noted b...

This study examined the inhibitory control of attention to social scenes in manic, depressive, and euthymic episodes of bipolar disorder (BD). Two scenes were simultaneously presented (happy/threatening/neutral [target] versus control). Participants were asked either to look at the emotional pictures (i.e., attend-to-emotional block) or to avoid looking at the emotional pictures (i.e., attend-t...

We present a case report of a woman hospitalized for a ventricular-peritoneal shunting replacement, who developed a manic episode with psychotic symptoms after hydrocephalus resolution. We have no knowledge of cases of manic episodes due to hydrocephalus resolution by ventricular-peritoneal shunt replacement, although previous case reports have suggested that hydrocephalus might induce rapid-on...

The complex relationship between the use of antidepressants and suicidal behaviour is one of the hottest topics of our contemporary psychiatry. Based on the literature, this paper summarizes the author's view on antidepressant-resistant depression and antidepressant-associated suicidal behaviour. Antidepressant-resistance, antidepressant-induced worsening of depression, antidepressant-associate...

TO THE EDITOR We read with interest the recent case report by Drs Soon-Jai Kwon et al. on Appetite Suppressor Induced Psychosis in which a case of de novo psychotic symptoms with phentermine use was reported. We had an Asian patient in whom dexfenfluramine, also an amphetamine related, centrally acting appetite suppressant, exacerbated an acute manic relapse. The patient is a 33 year old Asian ...