Psychological Factors in the Development of Mood Disorders with a Seasonal Pattern

Beratis, Stavroula; Gourzis, Philippos; Gabriel, Joanna

doi:10.1159/000285015

Cited by 15 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 11 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Treatment of these patients to prevent readmission is difficult (Hawton et al, 1998;Bennewith et al, 2002), with no definite strategies of proven benefit, although a recent study suggested that patients who received a psychosocial assessment were half as likely to poison themselves again (Kapur et al, 2002). Many factors determining such behaviour have been proposed, some of these, such as events or anniversaries, are specific to each patient (Beratis et al, 1996), but other factors relate to external influences and include times of the year (Beratis et al, 1996;Suhail & Cochrane, 1998) and days of the week (Hulse et al, 2001). Predicting admission patterns may be used to focus medical care and improve management and perhaps even prevent self-poisonings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A survey of admissions following self-poisoning

Leslie¹,

Greig²,

Mackie³

et al. 2005

Psychiatr. bull.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aims and MethodPatients who self-poison are at increased risk of future self-poisoning and early death. Admission patterns and effective treatment strategies are unclear although psychosocial assessment may reduce readmissions. This study aimed to determine admission patterns and the proportion of patients receiving a psychiatric assessment in 4220 consecutive admissions.ResultsThe average age was 34 years (s.d.=13, range 13–94); most were female (56 v. 44%, P<50.001). Twelve per cent of patients were aged 13–18 years, again the majority were female (70 v. 30%, P<50.001). Twenty per cent of patients had multiple admissions, accounting for 42% of the total admissions. There were slightly more admissions per day at the weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday; P<0.002). As many as 245 patients were either not referred or ‘self-discharged’ before they were assessed by the liaison psychiatry service.Clinical ImplicationsThese findings may help target medical resources, suggesting that consistent numbers of staff are required during all days of the week.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A survey of admissions following self-poisoning

Leslie¹,

Greig²,

Mackie³

et al. 2005

Psychiatr. bull.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They might unconsciously replace the real but traumatic psychosocial cause of their depression by more neutral and distant but less traumatic physical causes, such as winter darkness. In particular, Beratis et al (1996) found that depressive episodes can be anniversary reactions associated with intense traumatic experiences in childhood, adolescence or adulthood. The time and sometimes the place of the traumatic event acted as the trigger eliciting the clinical symptoms.…”

Section: Explanation Of Antidepressant Effectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antidepressant effects of combination of sleep deprivation and early evening treatment with melatonin or placebo for winter depression

Putilov¹,

Danilenko

2005

Biological Rhythm Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Patients with winter depression (seasonal affective disorder) respond beneficially to sleep deprivation and bright light, but the mechanisms of these responses remain unknown. The study was designed to test whether afternoon/evening melatonin can prevent further relapse after sleep deprivation (presumably due to a pharmacologically induced advance shift of circadian phase). Compared to phase advancing by alteration of sleep -wake schedule or by bright light exposure, the melatonin intake is a more tolerated treatment procedure, and it provides a possibility of blind comparison between chronotherapeutic and placebo treatments. The depression was scored in 16 female patients with winter depression and 17 age-matched female controls before and after total night sleep deprivation and after subsequent six-day administration of melatonin (0.5 mg) or placebo under double blind conditions. The melatonin intake was scheduled at 17:00 in order to produce a phase advance of circadian rhythms. Sleep deprivation resulted in 38% reduction of depression score in patients, but it did not reduce depression score in controls. After subsequent treatment with placebo or melatonin, slight but significant improvement of mood was found in controls. These treatments also stabilized the antidepressant response to sleep deprivation in patients. However, neither differential effect of melatonin and placebo on depression score nor alteration of habitual sleep timing was found in patients and controls. Thus, the study results do not provide evidence for the antidepressant potential of melatonin in patients with winter depression under realistic clinical conditions. The finding of stabilization of mood in patients with placebo points to the contribution of psychological factors to the therapeutic action of this and other types of innovative treatments for winter depression. To include psychosocial aspects in the theoretical framework of seasonal depression, we conceptualized depression as an evolved feature of emotional response to psychosocial rather than physical environment. The seasonality of depression might be explained by cumulative effects of aperiodical psychosocial factors and periodical physical factors on one of the mechanisms of brain neurotransmission.

show abstract

“…Psychiatry recognizes anniversaries as another type of recurrent event that can give rise to annual depressions with purely psychosocial causes. Indeed, some apparent cases of SAD have been determined, on re‐examination, to be more accurately diagnosed as ‘anniversary reactions’ connected with bereavements or other traumatic incidents in patients’ lives (Beratis, Gourzis & Gabriel 1994; 1996). The patients described in these particular studies experienced annually recurring depressions initially diagnosed as SAD, but on closer investigation it was found that the memories and associations of an event, not the climate, were precipitating the depressive episodes at the same time each year.…”

Section: Avatip: Heat‐haze and Nostalgiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotional Climates: Ritual, Seasonality and Affective Disorders

Harrison¹

2004

Royal Anthropological Inst

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article discusses resemblances between the religious symbolism of the annual cycle in certain societies, and seasonally linked mood disorders (notably seasonal affective disorder, or SAD) in contemporary Europe and North America.Two conclusions are drawn: first, that the ritual and symbolism connected with seasonality in some societies may be partly motivated by neurophysiology; second, that SAD is a culture-bound syndrome limited to societies that generate disjunctions between 'social' and 'natural' time.

show abstract

Psychological Factors in the Development of Mood Disorders with a Seasonal Pattern

Cited by 15 publications

References 11 publications

A survey of admissions following self-poisoning

A survey of admissions following self-poisoning

Antidepressant effects of combination of sleep deprivation and early evening treatment with melatonin or placebo for winter depression

Emotional Climates: Ritual, Seasonality and Affective Disorders

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About