[Depersonalization in panic disorders]. / La despersonalización en los trastornos de pánico.

Several studies which focus on the clinical study of the panic disorder have shown its clinical variety, subject to individual variations and which, up to a certain point, may justify a different response to the treatment used. In this sense, but focused on the presence of the depersonalization symptom we have directed our study to see if depersonalization is associated to socio-demographic characteristics, clinical and or personality traits which allow us to differentiate two sub-types of this disorder. Twenty-eight patients with panic disorder completed a structured interview which included a list of symptoms from the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III -Upjohn version, together with impairment in social or occupational functions. Fisher's Exact Test and Student's T test were used to analyse the results and showed for depersonalization an earlier onset (p < 0.05) and a more important impairment (p = 0.0021). Thus, the most important conclusion we have reached is an association between depersonalization, an earlier onset of the panic disorder and a more important impairment.

[Clinical application of the dexamethasone suppression test in the differentiation of subgroups in anorexia nervosa]. / Aplicación clínica del "test" de supresión con dexametasona en la diferenciación de subgrupos en la anorexia nerviosa.

This paper analyzes the usefulness of DST to identify subgroups in 27 patients with anorexia nervosa. The results obtained from this investigation don't show significant differences between the suppressors and nonsuppressors based on any of the following variables: weight loss, age, duration of the illness, weight at admittance, percentage of ideal weight and cortisol and ACTH baseline levels. However, we have found a correlation between substantially underweight patients (less than 75% of the ideal weight) and nonsuppression, and between bulimic episodes and suppression. 74.1% of our patients had abnormal DST. The DST does not appear to be useful to establish anorexia nervosa subgroups.

[Psychosocial and clinical-course factors in anorexia nervosa]. / Estudio de factores psicosociales y evolutivos en la anorexia nerviosa.

This study assesses the psychosocial factors of 27 patients diagnosed of Anorexia Nervosa and studies them in three different context: the age at which the illness appears, presence or absence of bulimic episodes and the evolution of the illness. The masculine sex and the lower middle class are factors that appear to be associated with an unfavorable evolution. Finally there is a discussion about the relevance of the different psychosocial factors.

[Duodenal ulcer disease. A controlled study of aggressiveness and other personality factors]. / La enfermedad ulcerosa duodenal. Un estudio controlado de la agresividad y otros factores de la personalidad.

We study the aggressivity level and its direction in the context of personality, in 36 patients with DUD (23 males and 13 females). We employed 30 patients with chronic disease (15 men with COPD and 15 female with arthrosis) as control groups, in addition to the normal population. The purpose of this investigation is to determinate if suffering or chronicity could determinate psychopathological findings similar to those described in the literature about patients with DUD. The results point out that we can not consider a specific ulcerous personality, but a psychophysiological reaction or psychopathological alterations resulting from a somatic disease, on the other hand the autoaggressivity factor pulsion-inhibition, is the most reliable variable when compared with control groups (p less than 0.05-0.01).