Assortative mating among in-patients with primary affective disorder

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 753-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Ries Merikangas ◽  
Duane G. Spiker
Keyword(s):  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Affective Disorders ◽  
Psychiatric Illness ◽  
Marital Interaction ◽  
Affective Illness ◽  
First Degree Relatives ◽  
Diagnostic Concordance ◽  
Primary Affective Disorders ◽  
Bipolar Patients ◽  
High Degree

SynopsisAssortative mating among 56 married in-patients with primary affective disorders and their spouses was studied by determining the prevalence of psychiatric illness among the spouses by means of direct interviews and standardized diagnostic criteria. A high degree of assortative mating among both male and female patients was observed for total psychiatric illness, broad spectrum affective illness and major depression. A significantly higher prevalence of psychiatric and affective illness was found among the first-degree relatives of the ill spouses when compared with the first-degree relatives of the well spouses. There was a high degree of diagnostic concordance between the patients and spouses for both affective illness and alcoholism, with a higher degree of assortative mating among bipolar patients than among unipolar patients. The finding in this study of an increased prevalence of psychiatric disorder in the first-degree relatives of the ill spouses would support the hypothesis that there is a tendency for individuals with a predisposition to psychiatric illness to marry, rather than the existence of a marital interaction which causes an increased concordance for psychiatric illness.

Genetic Implications in Assortative Mating of Affective Disorders

1981 ◽  
Vol 138 (3) ◽  
pp. 236-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Smeraldi ◽  
Fiammetta Negri ◽  
Anna Maria Melica ◽  
Rosanna Zuliani ◽  
Mariangela Gasperini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Affective Disorders ◽  
Psychiatric Illnesses ◽  
Control Subjects ◽  
First Degree Relatives ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Primary Affective Disorders

SummaryPsychiatric disorders in a sample of spouses of probands with recurrent Primary Affective Disorders (PAD) and in their first degree relatives were evaluated and compared with those in the spouses of control subjects without psychiatric illnesses. No differences were found in the risk for PAD, but spouses of PAD patients and their respective first degree relatives manifested a greater incidence of affective spectrum disorders.

Types of Depressive Illness

1972 ◽  
Vol 120 (556) ◽  
pp. 265-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Winokur
Keyword(s):  
Affective Disorders ◽  
Early Onset ◽  
Late Onset ◽  
Depressive Illness ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Familial Predisposition ◽  
Affective Illness ◽  
First Degree Relatives

A major problem in the affective disorders is what constitutes an homogeneous illness. A recent study enabled us to separate depressive illnesses into two types (1). The first we have called ‘depression spectrum disease’; its prototype is a female with an onset of a depressive illness before the age of 40, in whose family more depression is seen in female relatives than in male relatives, the deficit in males being made up by alcoholism and sociopathy. The second illness we have called ‘pure depressive disease’, the prototype of which is a male whose depression starts after age 40 and in whom there are equal amounts of depression in both male and female relatives and no large amount of alcoholism or sociopathy in the males. First degree relatives of depression spectrum disease are more likely to be psychiatrically ill (depression, sociopathy or alcoholism) than first degree relatives of pure depressive disease probands. Data of Hopkinson and Ley support this concept in part (2); they found that early-onset affective probands (< 40) had higher morbid risks for affective illness in relatives than late-onset probands (onset after 40). Further confirmation comes from a study of 259 alcoholics and their first degree relatives (3). Most of the psychiatrically ill male relatives had alcoholism; most of the psychiatrically ill female relatives had depression. As of the present the differentiation of the two kinds of depressive illness is made on the basis of a specific familial predisposition. Major clinical differences in the two groups have eluded us.

Life Events and Primary Affective Disorders

1996 ◽  
Vol 169 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Pardoen ◽  
F. Bauwens ◽  
M. Dramaix ◽  
A. Tracy ◽  
C. Genevrois ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Events ◽  
Affective Disorders ◽  
Causal Association ◽  
Marital Problems ◽  
Psychiatric Status ◽  
Healthy Control ◽  
One Year ◽  
Primary Affective Disorders ◽  
Bipolar Patients ◽  
Study Participants

BackgroundUnipolar and bipolar patients with a chronic illness pattern were investigated to determine whether they experienced a higher number of life events prior to the onset of recurrent affective episodes.MethodThe study participants consisted of 27 recovered bipolar patients, 24 recovered unipolar patients and 26 healthy control subjects. Life events and psychiatric status were assessed by bimonthly interviews over the period of one year using the Inventory for Recent Life Events and the Research Diagnostic Criteria.ResultsIn both unipolar and bipolar patients, analyses revealed no significant differences in the number of life events experienced, irrespective of whether the patients had presented with a depressive episode of at least minor intensity during the study (all P > 0.1). Specifically, an increase in marital problems was observed in bipolar patients prior to the onset of recurrent hypomanic and manic episodes (P=0.06).ConclusionThe causal association between life events and the onset of depression, shown to be relevant in non-chronically depressed subjects, does not apply in chronic affective disorders. In addition, our results suggest that marital events have an impact on the onset of recurrent hypomanic and manic episodes.

The treated incidence of psychotic and affective illness in twins compared with population expectation: a study in the Swedish Twin and Psychiatric Registries

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1135-1144 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Kendler ◽  
N. L. Pedersen ◽  
B. Y. Farahmand ◽  
P-G. Persson
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Affective Disorders ◽  
Psychiatric Illness ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Incidence Rates ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Affective Illness ◽  
Relative Risks ◽  
Twin Method ◽  
Opposite Sex

SynopsisTwin studies of psychiatric illness assume that the genetic and environmental risk factors for psychiatric illness are similar in twins and non-twins and in monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins. To test this assumption, we examine whether the treated incidence of psychiatric illness in twins deviates from population expectations or differs between MZ and DZ twins. Using first admissions to the Swedish Psychiatric Registry for the years 1979–83 for all twins born 1886–1958 from the Swedish Twin Registries, we calculated Standardized Morbidity Ratios (SMRs) using national incidence rates together with individually computed person-years at risk in the twin cohort. The diagnoses examined, for which there was more than 393000 person-years of risk, were schizophrenia, other non-affective psychoses (ONAP), bipolar affective illness (BPAI), unipolar affective illness (UPAI) and neurotic depression (ND). The SMRs (and 95% CIs) for all twins were: schizophrenia 0·86 (0·69–1·06), ONAP 1·05 (0·88–1·24), BPAI 1·09 (0·90–1·32), UPAI 1·05 (0·85–1·29) and ND 0·99 (0·88–1·10). This pattern of results did not differ substantially when examined separately by gender or birth cohort. Relative risks for first admissions for MZ v. same-sex DZ twins or same v. opposite-sex DZ twins did not differ significantly from unity for any of the disorders examined. In Sweden, the treated incidence of psychotic and affective disorders in twins does not differ from that found in the general population and does not differ across zygosity groups. These results support the validity of the twin method for the study of psychotic and affective disorders.

Parent-Child Concordance with Respect to Sex and Diagnosis in Schizophrenia and Manic-Depressive Psychosis

1973 ◽  
Vol 123 (577) ◽  
pp. 653-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Powell ◽  
Nancy M. Thomson ◽  
David J. Hall ◽  
Linda S. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Psychiatric Illness ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Psychiatric Research ◽  
Manic Depressive Psychosis ◽  
First Degree Relatives ◽  
Manic Depressive ◽  
The Family ◽  
Physical Attributes ◽  
Diagnostic Concordance

In the search for an explanation of the aetiology of psychiatric illness, the study of the family as a unit for psychiatric research is becoming increasingly necessary. That family members resemble one another in many respects seems an intuitively correct idea. Children resemble their parents in both physical attributes and temperament; the former is mainly attributed to heredity and the latter to an interaction of heredity and social learning. Previous psychiatric studies of the family have indicated two areas for further investigation: firstly, sex concordance, and secondly diagnostic concordance among psychiatrically ill first degree relatives. The literature relating to these areas is abundant, and the main conclusions are summarized below.

N1-methylnicotinamide excretion and affective disorders

1976 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. L. Cazzullo ◽  
E. Sacchetti ◽  
E. Smeraldi
Keyword(s):  
Healthy Volunteers ◽  
Affective Disorders ◽  
Urinary Output ◽  
High Morbidity ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
First Degree Relatives ◽  
Primary Affective Disorders ◽  
Morbidity Risk

SynopsisN1-Methylnicotinamide urinary output is examined in 38 healthy volunteers, 52 patients with secondary affective disorders (SAD), 55 patients with primary affective disorders (PAD) and 46 healthy first-degree relatives of PAD patients. The results indicate (1) that in PAD patients and their first-degree relatives the frequency of low Nl-MN excretion was significantly higher (p < 0001) than in healthy controls and in patients with secondary affective disorders, and (2) that PAD patients have a consistently low N1-MN output, at all times constant and independent of the clinical phases of the disease. These findings provide evidence that the low N1-MN levels may represent an index of a biological background linked to a high morbidity risk for primary affective disorders. The theoretical implications deriving from these data are briefly discussed.

scholarly journals Response Processes to Looming Appetitive and Aversive Cues in Euthymic Bipolar Patients and Their First-Degree Relatives: An Exploratory Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 025371762097528
Author(s):  
Velprashanth Venkatesan ◽  
Christoday R J Khess ◽  
Umesh Shreekantiah ◽  
Nishant Goyal ◽  
K. K. Kshitiz
Keyword(s):  
Bipolar Disorder ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Sensitivity To Reward ◽  
Bipolar Group ◽  
First Degree Relatives ◽  
Vulnerability Model ◽  
Increased Sensitivity ◽  
Appetitive Cues ◽  
Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Bipolar Patients

Background: Patients with bipolar disorder demonstrate increased sensitivity to appetitive/rewarding stimuli even during euthymia. On presentation of arousing pictures, they show a peculiar response, suggesting heightened vigilance. While responding to looming arousing cues, studies show subjects with anxiety spectrum disorders exhibit increased reaction time (RT), explained by the “looming-vulnerability model.” This study aimed to investigate the responses to looming arousing cues in euthymic bipolar patients and their first-degree relatives, as compared to healthy controls. Method: A looming appetitive and aversive cue paradigm was designed for assessing the RT of patients to process appetitive and aversive cues. The behavioral inhibition/activation and sensitivity to reward/punishment amongst the groups were also assessed. Results: The bipolar group showed significantly longer RT to process appetitive cues irrespective of the looming condition. Aversive cues elicited significantly longer RT in both the bipolar group and in first-degree relatives, but only when presented with the looming condition. Significant looming bias was elicited in the bipolar group which suggested a particular cognitive style to looming cues. A composite measure of RT along with sensitivity to reward/punishment distinguishes the bipolar group and their first-degree relatives from the healthy controls. Conclusion: The looming vulnerability model may provide important insights for future exploration of cognitive endophenotypes in bipolar disorder.

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