Psychiatry Commons^™

Towards Objectively Quantifying Sensory Hypersensitivity: A Pilot Study Of The “Ariana Effect.”, Vassilis N. Panagopoulos, Deanna J. Greene, Meghan C. Campbell, Kevin J. Black

Kevin J. Black, MD

Background. Normally one habituates rapidly to steady, faint sensations. People with sensory hypersensitivity (SH), by contrast, continue to attend to such stimuli and find them noxious. SH is common in Tourette syndrome (TS) and autism, and methods to quantify SH may lead to better understanding of these disorders. In an attempt to objectively quantify SH severity, the authors tested whether a choice reaction time (CRT) task was a sensitive enough measure to detect significant distraction from a steady tactile stimulus, and to detect significantly greater distraction in subjects with more severe SH.

Methods. Nineteen ambulatory adult volunteers with varying scores …

A Fixed-Dose Randomized Controlled Trial Of Olanzapine For Psychosis In Parkinson Disease, Michelle J. Nichols, Johanna M. Hartlein, Meredith Ga Eicken, Brad A. Racette, Kevin J. Black

Kevin J. Black, MD

Background: Psychosis is a common and debilitating side effect of long-term dopaminergic treatment of Parkinson disease (PD). While clozapine is an effective treatment, the need for blood monitoring has limited its first-line use.

Objective: Since olanzapine shows similar receptor affinity to clozapine, we hypothesized that it might be an effective alternative to clozapine for treatment of drug-induced psychosis (DIP) in PD, and that lower doses than usual might make it tolerable.

Methods: In 1998-2003 we conducted a four-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group, fixed-dose trial of olanzapine (0, 2.5mg, or 5mg) in 23 PD patients with DIP while allowing for clinically …