Gideon Ratzoni

The sociocultural theory in the development of anorexia nervosa.

The relationship between anorexia nervosa (AN) and sociocultural factors is examined. Anorexia nervosa was first described in the West and was reported as particularly rare or absent in Eastern cultures. However, the frequency of its presentation has increased worldwide over the past two decades, probably as a consequence of changes in cultural norms and concepts of feminine beauty and an increasing inflow of Western values into other countries. Sociocultural factors are important in the development of AN in psychologically vulnerable young females, although other factors may also be implicated.

Learned irrelevance is disrupted in first-episode but not chronic schizophrenia patients

Learned irrelevance (LIrr) is a pre-exposure effect in which uncorrelated presentations of a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) retard subsequent CS-US association. LIrr is closely related to the phenomenon of latent inhibition (LI). LI refers to the retarding effects of inconsequential stimulus pre-exposure on subsequent conditioning to that stimulus, and is considered to reflect the organisms capacity to ignore irrelevant stimuli. LI is disrupted in schizophrenia patients, due to faster learning of the association between the preexposed CS and the US. A new within-subject target-recognition LIrr procedure was applied. The target was either cued by a priming signal or appeared at random, and priming signals were novel or preexposed cues. Schizophrenia patients were compared to age- and sex-matched control subjects. Normal subjects (n = 24) have shown robust LIrr, namely, faster cue-target associations of novel compared to preexposed cues. Schizophrenia patients at the early stages of their first episode (n = 7) showed LIrr disruption, namely, cue-target associations to preexposed cues were as fast as for novel cues. Chronic patients during an acute phase (n = 18) did not show LIrr as they failed to learn the cue-target association. In addition to the LIrr paradigm the same subjects were tested in a covert-orientation task. No differences were observed between the groups on this task. The possible advantages of the new LIrr paradigm are discussed.

Clomipramine efficacy for tics, obsessions, and compulsions in tourette's syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder: A case study

We present the case of a patient whose definite TS coexisted with OCD and who responded dramatically and repeatedly to the tricyclic antidepressant CMI

Case Study: The Ganser Syndrome in Two Adolescent Brothers

Abstract The Ganser syndrome is rare in children and adolescents. Two cases of Ganser syndrome in adolescent brothers, both of whom developed the syndrome while in jail and awaiting trial, are presented. Both brothers subsequently developed signs and symptoms indicative of affective disorder. The differential diagnosis and the management of these two patients are discussed in the light of the nosological controversies surrounding this clinical entity. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry , 1993, 32, 3:582–584.

Reasons for referral for electroconvulsive therapy: a comparison between adolescents and adults.

Objective: In order to improve our understanding of the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in adolescent patients, we aimed to evaluate the reasons for referral for ECT in different age groups. Method: We compared the reasons for adolescent and adult referrals by a retrospective file review of 13 consecutive adolescents and 56 consecutive adults treated in our ECT unit during a 5-year period. Results: There was a significant association between age group and reason for referral. Non-response to pharmacotherapy was a significantly more common reason among adults. Adolescents were mainly referred due to catatonia and suicidal behaviour. Conclusion: Our results support the need to study reasons for referral to ECT, beyond non-response to pharmacotherapy, especially in adolescent patients.

Cognitive Profile During Remission: Euthymic Bipolar Disorder Patients Compared to Schizophrenia Patients

Background: Cognitive deficits are fundamental features in schizophrenia (SZ) and major determinants of psychosocial functioning. Cognitive deficits in bipolar disorder (BD) were only recently recognized, and research on them is limited, especially in the euthymic stage. Earlier attempts to establish and compare the cognitive profiles of these overlapping disorders were few, and their results were inconsistent. Methods: We compared the cognitive profile of age- and gender-matched euthymic BD patients, SZ patients in remission, and healthy controls (30 subjects in each group). Cognitive performance was evaluated using a well-validated computerized assessment battery (Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery [CANTAB]). Results: The findings indicated both quantitive and qualitative differences in cognitive functioning of patients who were in the stable stage of the two disorders. While SZ patients exhibited more generalized cognitive deficits, those of the BD patients were more focused in the dom...