Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Preliminary Evidence For Medication Effects On Functional Abnormalities In The Amygdala And Anterior Cingulate In Bipolar Disorder, Hilary P. Blumberg, Nelson H. Donegan, Charles A. Sanislow, Susan Collins, Cheryl Lacadie, Pawel Skudlarski, Ralitza Gueorguieva, Robert K. Fulbright, Thomas H. Mcglashan, John C. Gore, John H. Krystal

Charles A. Sanislow, Ph.D.

RATIONALE: Abnormal amygdala and frontocortical responses to emotional stimuli are implicated in bipolar disorder (BD) and have been proposed as potential treatment targets.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate amygdala and frontocortical responses to emotional face stimuli in BD and the influences of mood-stabilizing medications on these responses.

METHODS: Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed while 17 BD participants (5 unmedicated) and 17 healthy comparison (HC) participants viewed faces with happy, sad, fearful, or neutral expressions.

RESULTS: The group by stimulus-condition interaction was significant (p<0.01) for amygdala activation, with the greatest effects in the happy face condition. Relative to HC, amygdala increases were greater in unmedicated BD, but lower in medicated BD. Rostral anterior cingulate (rAC) activation was decreased in unmedicated BD compared to HC; however, BD participants taking medication demonstrated rAC activation similar to HC participants.

CONCLUSIONS: Although the sample sizes were small, these preliminary results suggest that …

The Role Of Spiritual Well-Being In Moderating Frail Elders' Affective Response To Functional Difficulty, Marie P. Dennis, Laura N. Gitlin, Laraine Winter, Yeon K. Chee

Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health Research Papers

Anxiety and depression have been well documented as affective consequences of functional impairment. Little research, however, has examined factors that moderate these associations. The present cross-sectional study examined the role of spiritual well-being in buffering the impact of functional difficulty on the anxiety and depressive symptoms of 319 functionally vulnerable community-dwelling elders, aged 70 or older, participating in a 6-month randomized controlled trial designed to enhance function. As demonstrated in recent research on spirituality and health, we expected that spiritual well-being would moderate the association between functional difficulty and anxiety as well as the relationship between functional difficulty and depression. …

Longitudinal Comparison Of Depressive Personality Disorder And Dysthymic Disorder, John C. Markowitz, Andrew E. Skodol, Eva Petkova, Hui Xie, Jianfeng Cheng, David J. Hellerstein, John G. Gunderson, Charles A. Sanislow, Carlos M. Grilo, Thomas H. Mcglashan

Charles A. Sanislow, Ph.D.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have compared the related diagnostic constructs of depressive personality disorder (DPD) and dysthymic disorder (DD). The authors attempted to replicate findings of Klein and Shih in longitudinally followed patients with personality disorder or major depressive disorder (MDD) in the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study.

METHODS: Subjects (N = 665) were evaluated at baseline and over 2 years (n = 546) by reliably trained clinical interviewers using semistructured interviews and self-report personality questionnaires.

RESULTS: Only 44 subjects (24.6% of 179 DPD and 49.4% of 89 early-onset dysthymic subjects) met criteria for both disorders at baseline. Depressive personality disorder …