Per Bech

..MAS has also been used to add to the literature on the evidence-based effect of lithium as a short-term therapy for hypomania or mixed bipolar states and as a long-term therapy of bipolar states...

..There may be differences in characteristics of fatigue between diseases and generic measurement instruments may facilitate documentation of such differences, which may be of clinical importance...

..To analyse the internalising and externalising dimensions of affective states in depressed (unipolar) and bipolar patients approximately 2 years after discharge from psychiatric hospitals in Denmark...

..The varying sensitivity of scales that measure the severity of depression is one of the many factors affecting the evaluation of the dose-response relationship with antidepressants...

..The problem of statistical versus clinical significance when analyzing placebo-controlled trials, including dose-response relationship, is outlined, with the recommendation to use effect size statistics...

..The hypothesis tested was that escitalopram 10 mg/d might be an effective dose in moderate MDD, whereas escitalopram 20 mg/d might be needed in severe depression...

..After 8 wk of treatment 20 mg escitalopram was superior to 40 mg citalopram, but not after 2 wk of treatment...

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..In conclusion, the MAS was found superior to the YMRS in regard to both internal and external validity...

..These scales should be considered as supplementary to each other rather than alternatives; it may be necessary to use more than one of these scales in a trial...

..This Major Depression Inventory (MDI) can be scored both according to the DSM-IV and the ICD-10 algorithms for depressive symptomatology and according to severity scales by the simple total sum of the items...

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..In conclusion, a purely antidepressive effect of mirtazapine has been demonstrated concerning both improvement after the acute therapy of major depression and early onset of action...

..Among the many problems in interpreting dose-response studies with antidepressants are the psychometric problems in the identification of true antidepressive effect versus true adverse drug effect...

..By use of valid questionnaires to investigate work-related stress and distress in Danish managers...

..To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Bech-Rafaelsen Melancholia Scale (MES) by reviewing clinical trials in which it has been used as outcome measure...

..In these patients, depressive symptoms, as in the general population, was found to have association with reduced quality of life...

..The results suggest that repaglinide provides a higher level of treatment satisfaction than placebo, and this may in part relate to improved glycaemic control...

..In conclusion, the WHO-Five, which measures psychological well-being, reflects aspects other than just the absence of depressive symptoms...

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..In PTSD patients the unspecific arousal syndrome (HAM-D9) is the first syndrome to emerge, typically after the two first weeks...

..We have re-analysed our previous double-blind, placebo-controlled clomipramine study, changing the focus from depression to anxiety both in the response analysis and in the classification of minor affective states...

..01). The results of the present study confirm that the Lehman Quality of Life questionnaire can be validly used in stable schizophrenics...

..The Clinical Interview for Depression and Related Syndromes (CIDRS) is included in the appendix as this CIDRS covers many of the rating scales measuring mood and anxiety...

..Whether bright light has a sustained effect after discontinuation is, however, poorly investigated...

..These symptoms seem associated with hypothyroidism, but the results of evaluations of the thyroid function in SAD patients have been conflicting, most likely due to the very small number of observations...

..The aim of the study was to develop a multi-disciplinary stress management program for employees with long-term stress...

..The Gotland Depression Subscale was found to be better than the Gotland Distress Subscale at discriminating between patients treated and not treated with antidepressants...

..On the HAM-D(6) the superiority of sertraline to placebo was demonstrated already after 6 weeks of therapy. Treatment was well tolerated; patients treated with sertraline experienced significantly fewer adverse events...

..The course of affective disorders underlines the severity of the disorders with many recurrent episodes and long duration, especially in the depressive state...

..Risk factors for depression include traumatic life events in social life or other stressors, social status as well as over-consumption of alcohol. Information, detection and treatment of depression are of great importance...

..The scale consists of 42 items and permits the calculation of the scores of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)-21, the BDI 13, the Melancholia Subscale, the Asthenia Subscale, the Anxiety Subscale and the Mania Subscale..

..The delay in the therapeutic effect of antidepressants is a considerable impediment to their successful clinical use, and attention has recently been focused on antidepressant drugs that may have a faster onset of action...

..The WHO-5-J was thus found to have a sufficient reliability and validity, indicating that it is a useful instrument for detecting current depressive episodes in diabetic patients...

..Further study is needed to test whether psychophysiological methods, which are noninvasive and easy to perform, are of value in the therapeutic planning and monitoring of responses...

..Patients' satisfaction with care may be an important factor in relation to adherence to treatment and continued psychiatric care. Few studies have focused on satisfaction in patients with depressive and bipolar disorders...

..However, these attitudes have received little study in patients whose disorders were sufficiently severe to require hospitalization...

..Thus, depressive symptoms seem to be the strongest predictor of general health and well-being in both disorders. As the response rate to the questionnaire was relatively low, the findings should be interpreted with caution...

..Overall, these data suggest that the GRID-HAMD is an improvement over the original Guy version as well as the SIGH-D in its incorporation of innovative features and preservation of high reliability and validity...

..The current study aimed to compare the properties of some of the most popular of these scales...

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..The disability and hardship associated with affective disorder is shared by the family members of affective patients and might affect the family member's quality of life...

..In the present study, we examined the association between depression and the phosphate derivative of vitamin B6 in plasma, pyridoxal phosphate (PLP)...

..The study group consists of the 'hospital material' used by the late Erling Jacobsen, M.D., in his doctoral thesis of 1965...

..Future studies should include a minimum of 1,000 patients, use a validated instrument, re-examine the patients, and describe participants and non-participants in detail...

..HRQOL measures can guide treatment decisions and increase the possibility of involving patients in decisions concerning treatment, care and rehabilitation...