In this article, a concept of staging of unipolar affective illness (recurrent depression) is presented. In respective subchapters, three most important aspects of this issue have been discussed: 1) staging of unipolar affective illness; 2) staging of treatment-resistant depression; and 3) conversion of unipolar into bipolar affective illness. The evidence for so called neuroprogression of the illness, accumulated in recent years, has allowed for a classification of staging based on a concept of allostasis and allostatic load. In the course of illness, changes in neuroendocrine system (mainly hypothalamic pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis), immunological system, mechanisms of oxidative stress, neurotransmitters, neurotrophic factors as well as structural and functional changes of the brain occur. In their paper of 2007, Fava and Tossani elaborated a concept of staging of unipolar affective illness presenting a continuum model of five consecutive stages with specific clinical features. In the present paper, a concept of treatment-resistant depression and staging of treatment resistance is presented in the context of several models. An important determinant of treatment-resistant depression is so called subthreshold bipolarity which is connected with worse efficacy of antidepressant drugs. In the course of illness, there is a possibility of changing diagnosis from recurrent depression into bipolar affective illness. The studies on this issue show that frequency of such diagnostic conversion is 1,5% of depressed patients per year.
Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a chronic pain condition characterized by pain, burning sensations and dryness within an oral mucosa, without any clinical changes of the latter. It occurs approximately seven times more frequently in women, mostly in perimenopausal age. The psychiatric aspect of BMS is significant: the most frequent co-morbidities are depression and anxiety disorders, and a number of psychotropic drugs play an essential role in its treatment. In the present review, the most important pathogenic and treatment concepts of BMS have been discussed. The BMS may be similar to neuropathic pain and has some related pathogenic elements with fibromyalgia and the restless leg syndrome. In primary BMS, the features of presynaptic dysfunction of dopaminergic neurons and deficiency of endogenous dopamine levels have been demonstrated. Other neurotransmitters such as serotonin, noradrenaline, histamine as well as hormonal and inflammatory factors may also play a role in the pathogenesis of BMS. In the pharmacological treatment of BMS a variety of drugs have been used including benzodiazepines, anticonvulsants, antidepressants and atypical antipsychotic drugs. In the final part of the paper, the possibility of using atypical antipsychotic drug, olanzapine, in the treatment of BMS has been discussed. In the context of the recent studies on this topic, a case of female patient with the BMS lasting more than ten years has been mentioned, in whom the treatment with olanzapine brought about a rapid and significant reduction of symptoms. The probable mechanism of the therapeutic effect of olanzapine in BMS can include its effect on dopaminergic receptors and probably also on histaminergic, noradrenergic and serotonergic ones.
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