Rating of psychological effects induced by "ordinary" Noveril and time-released Noveril (author's transl)

Rated 2 groups of depressed inpatients (9 and 11 Ss) before, during, and after the study on 2 depression scales (Hamilton, Breulet), an anxiety scale (Cattell), and the MMPI. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze statistically the results of the double-blind, cross-over, and randomized evaluation of the antidepressant characteristics of ordinary and of time-released Noveril (dibenzepin). Results confirm that both forms of Noveril are antidepressant, but that ordinary Noveril is more active

The Concurrent Validity and Sensitivity of Change of the German Version of the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales in a Psychiatric Inpatient Setting

Background: The Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) were developed to assess the severity of a mental illness. They are used as outcome measures in different countries, and are meanwhile translated from the original English version into many languages, among others into German (HoNOS-D). We conducted a study in order to estimate the concurrent validity and sensitivity to change using clinical parameters as ICD-10 diagnoses, as well as the Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI), and the Association for Methodology and Documentation in Psychiatry (AMDP) psychopathology scale, a frequently used psychopathological rating system, in a representative clinical sample. Sampling and Methods: Data on the three instruments (CGI, AMDP, HoNOS-D) were collected at admission and discharge of 100 psychiatric inpatients using a representative clinical sample. Experienced clinicians completed the CGI, AMDP and HoNOS-D. Descriptive and comparative data analyses were performed. We estimated the concurrent validity by calculating correlations between the HoNOS and other scales. Secondly, we examined the differences between HoNOS scores related to diagnoses and demographic parameters. Thirdly we calculated change criteria and outcome effect size for the HoNOS. Results: Even in a small clinical sample (n = 100), the HoNOS-D items are highly correlated with the corresponding AMDP syndromes (p ! 0.003). The HoNOS-D score is associated with the CGI score (p ! 0.01). Correlations of HoNOS symptoms, behavior and impairment items with AMDP syndromes as well as differences in diagnoses were appropriate and comprehensible as regards clinical content, and change on the HoNOS total score is statistically significant (t = 6.57, d.f. = 89, p ! 0.0001). Conclusion: This study is the first to investigate the concurrent validity of HoNOS-D concerning psychopathology using the AMDP rating system in a clinical sample of patients with mental disorders in an inpatient setting. HoNOS-D can be recommended for routinely screening outcomes in inpatient psychiatric settings. Our analysis showed that HoNOS-D covers psychopathology corresponding to the AMDP rating system. A limitation of the study is that the study sample comprised only an inpatient population; there may well be differences compared to an outpatient sample

Factorial structure of the A.M.D.P.: comparison with German language studies and originality of the French adaptation

Validated the results of a previous analysis of 337 Association for Methodology and Documentation in Psychiatry (AMDP)-V system Ss and 388 AMDP-IV system Ss with a sample of 493 Ss. The factorial structure of the French version of the AMDP has 10 psychopathological factors (AMDP-IV) and 3 somatic factors (AMDP-V) independent of the psychopathological factors. 23 rare or inestimable items were found, including neologisms, certain types of hallucinations, self-mutilations, sexual deviations, allergic reactions, tardive dyskinesias, hypersalivation, hypotonia, ataxia, and nystagmus. Minor modifications to the syndromic scale of the AMDP are proposed to standardize its factorial structure, to avoid misunderstandings, and to improve international comprehension of AMDP terminology.Sur un échantillon de 493 malades évalués à l'aide des échelles A.M.D.P. psychopathologique (A.M.D.P.-4) et somatique (A.M.D.P.-5), nous confirmions les conclusions d'une première analyse limitée à 3371388 patients. La structure factorielle de l' A.M.D.P. francophone comporte 10 facteurs psychopathologiques (dont 2 générés par les items francophones de réserve : anxiété, dramatisation) et 3 facteurs somatiques indépendants des facteurs psychopathologiques (dont 1 facteur de plaintes somatiques comparable au facteur hypocondrie des auteurs de langue allemande). Cette analyse nous conduit à apporter des modifications mineures à l'échelle syndromique de l' A.M.D.P., qui nous permet d'étalonner les notes factorielles grâce à l'évaluation quantitative globale des syndromes cliniques correspondants. Les intitulés de certains facteurs sont modifiés de manière à éviter des malentendus et à améliorer l'identité internationale de la terminologie A.M.D.P. En bref, la présente analyse démontre la double complémentarité entre les échelles psychopathologique et somatique d'une part, entre les versions germanophone et francophone d'autre part