1995 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Follow up study on seasonal affective disorders and their biological makers
| Project/Area Number |
06670992
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Psychiatric science
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| Research Institution | National Institute of Neuroscience National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry |
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Principal Investigator |
TAKAHASHI Kiyohisa National Institute of Neuroscience National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Department of Mental Disorders Research Researcher, 神経研究所・疾病研究第三部, 研究員 (30073076)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
KATOH Masaki National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 神経センター・精神保健研究所, 研究員 (90250224)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1994 – 1995
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| Keywords | Seasonal affective disorder / Ligh thrapy / Carbohydrate craving / Alprazolam / Circadian rhythm / Sleep-wake rhythm disorder |
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| Research Abstract |
Patients with seasonal affective disorders were recruited through mass media to perform a multicenter study. 128 registered patients in the study were divided into 9 subgroups on the basis of a longitudinal course. Forty-four patients showed a steady seasonality throughout the periods examined. Bright light therapy was beneficial in 70% of these patients, while it was effective in onle 40% of patients with poor seasonality. Both symptoms of carbohydrate craving and hyppersominia seemed to be those predicting favorable response to bright light therapy. About half of patients examined showed change in seasonality. Some of them lost the seanonality completely by extended depressed episode or disappearance of episode during the fall-winter time. The mechanisms of such loss of seasonality is unknown, although some cases seemed to loss their seasonality after they were administered antidepressants or lithium carbonate.
Beneficiency of anxiolytics in SAD was investigated in order to study SAD patients to investigate one of biological factors. Four patients out of 7 (2 male, 5 female) were treated successfully with alprazolam, while others did not respond to this drug. The drug was best beneficial to depressed mood and anxiety. Various symptoms such as inactivity, social with-draw, feeling of guilty, hypersomnia and overweight were also improved. The existence of res-ponedrs and non-responders to the drug in SAD suggested that biological bases were different between these two groups. Further study on responsiveness of this drug may contribute to clarify the biological bases of SAD.
We compared SAD with another rhythm disorder, sleep-wake rhythm disorders. A marked gender difference was found in the former, while no significant difference in the latter. Some patients with sleep-wake rhythm disorder was also affected by the season in a similar manner of SAD.
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