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Offspring of Patients with Affective Disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Donald H. McKnew Jr
Affiliation:
Unit on Childhood Mental Illness, Biological Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014
Leon Cytryn
Affiliation:
Unit on Childhood Mental Illness, Biological Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014
Alina M. Efron
Affiliation:
Section on Psychiatry, Laboratory of Clinical Science, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014
Elliot S. Gershon
Affiliation:
Section on Psychogenetics, Biological Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014
William E. Bunney Jr
Affiliation:
Biological Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014

Summary

All the children (ages 5–15) of 14 consecutive patients admitted to hospital at the National Institute of Mental Health with a diagnosis of bipolar or unipolar affective disorder were studied. The children were seen twice, four months apart, and assessed by an interview and rating scales. The parents were also assessed. Of 14 boys, five were depressed on both interviews and three were depressed on one interview. Four of the 16 girls were depressed on both interviews and 11 were depressed on one interview. The clinical picture and the ratings showed the boys, but not the girls, to have a significant correlation for depression on both interviews. The children diagnosed as suffering from depression showed the symptoms of a primary unipolar affective disorder without other significant pathology.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1979 

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