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The Dexamethasone Suppression Test as a Discriminator among Subtypes of Psychotic Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Anthony J. Rothschild ,
Alan F. Schatzberg ,
Alan H. Rosenbaum ,
Julie B. Stahl  and
Jonathan O. Cole
Anthony J. Rothschild*
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School; McLean Hospital, 115 Mill Street, Belmont, MA 02178, USA
Alan F. Schatzberg
Affiliation:
Harvard Medical School and Co-Director, Affective Disease Program, McLean Hospital
Alan H. Rosenbaum
Affiliation:
Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at University of Michigan
Julie B. Stahl
Affiliation:
Affective Disease Program, McLean Hospital
Jonathan O. Cole
Affiliation:
McLean Hospital
*
∗Correspondence.
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Summary

Plasma Cortisol levels examined at 16.00 hours after dexamethasone in 31 controls and in 34 psychotic patients with various diagnoses, suggests that the ranges of such levels may help to discriminate among subtypes of psychotic patients. They were significantly higher in the unipolar depressed psychotic group than in control subjects or in psychotic patients with bipolar depression or schizophrenia. Moreover, the distribution of values differed between groups. Whereas 8 of 14 psychotic patients with unipolar depressive illness had post-dexamethasone Cortisol values ≥ 14 μg/dl, none of the remaining psychotic patients had similarly high values. Implications of these data are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 141 , Issue 5 , November 1982 , pp. 471 - 474
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1982 

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