Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-jr42d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T21:09:11.441Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Major Depression in Down's Syndrome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

A. C. Warren ,
S. Holroyd  and
M. F. Folstein
A. C. Warren*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
S. Holroyd
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
M. F. Folstein
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
*
∗600 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Five patients with trisomy 21 (Down's syndrome (DS)), referred to us for evaluation of dementia, were instead found to have major depression. All had shown cognitive and behavioural deterioration and this had led to a mistaken diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in two. We outline and contrast the features of major depression and Alzheimer's disease in DS, and suggest that electroconvulsive therapy is an effective treatment for major depression in DS.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 155 , Issue 2 , August 1989 , pp. 202 - 205
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1989 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ballinger, B. R. & Reid, A. H. (1977) Psychiatric disorder in an adult training centre and a hospital for the mentally handicapped. Psychological Medicine, 7, 525–528.Google Scholar
Duncan, A. G., Penrose, L. S. & Turnbull, R. C. (1936) A survey of the patients in a large mental hospital. Journal of Neurological Psychopathology, 16, 225–238.Google Scholar
Earl, C. J. C. (1934) The primitive catatonic psychoses of idiocy. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 14, 3–11.Google Scholar
Hasan, Y. M. K. & Mooney, R. P. (1979) Three cases of manic-depressive illness in mentally retarded adults. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 1069–1071.Google ScholarPubMed
Heaton-Ward, A. (1977) Psychosis in mental handicap. British Journal of Psychiatry, 130, 525–533.Google Scholar
Herskovitz, H. H. & Plesset, M. R. (1941) Psychoses in adult mental defectives. Psychiatric Quarterly, 15, 574–588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hucker, S. J. (1985) Is mania incompatible with Down's syndrome? British Journal of Psychiatry, 147, 93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, J. W. (1982) Problem behavior and psychiatric impairment within a developmentally disabled population - I. Behavior frequency. Applied Research in Mental Retardation, 3, 121–139.Google Scholar
James, F. E. & Snaith, R. P. (1979) Psychiatric Illness and Mental Handicap. London: Gaskell Press.Google Scholar
Keegan, D. L., Pettigrew, A. & Parker, Z. (1974) Psychosis in Down's syndrome treated with amitriptyline. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 110, 1128–1129.Google Scholar
Malamud, N. (1973) Neuropathology of organic brain syndromes associated with aging In Aging and the Brain (ed. Gaitz C. M.), pp. 63–87. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
McLaren, J. & Bryson, S. E. (1987) Review of recent epidemiological studies of mental retardation: prevalence, associated disorders, and etiology. American Journal of Mental Retardation, 92, 243–254.Google Scholar
Menolascino, F. J. (1964) Psychiatric aspects of mongolism. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 69, 653–660.Google Scholar
O'Connor, N. & Tizard, J. (1956) The Social Problem of Mental Deficiency. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Payne, R. (1968) The psychotic subnormal. Journal of Mental Subnormality, 14, 25–34.Google Scholar
Penrose, L. S. (1962) The Biology of Mental Defectives. New York: Grune and Stratton.Google Scholar
Phillips, I. & Williams, N. (1975) Psychopathology and mental retardation: a study of 100 mentally retarded children: I. Psychopathology. American Journal of Psychiatry, 132, 1265–1271.Google Scholar
Pollock, H. M. (1945) Mental disease among mental defectives. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 49, 477–480.Google Scholar
Reid, A. H. (1972) Psychosis in adult mental defectives: I. Manic-depressive psychosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 120, 205–212.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reid, A. H. & Naylor, G. J. (1976) Short cycle manic depressive psychosis in mental defectives: a clinical and physiological study. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 20, 67–76.Google Scholar
Reid, A. H., Balunger, B. R. & Heather, B. B. (1978) Behavioral syndromes identified by cluster analysis in a sample of 100 severely and profoundly retarded adults. Psychological Medicine, 8, 399–412.Google Scholar
Roith, A. I. (1961) Psychotic depression in a mongol. Journal of Mental Subnormality, 7, 45–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rollin, H. R. (1946) Personality in mongolism with special reference to incidence of catatonic psychosis. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 50, 219–223.Google Scholar
Ross, R. T. (1972) Behavioral correlates of levels of intelligence. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 76, 545–549.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Tizard, J., Yule, W., et al (1976) Isle of Wight Studies 1964–1974. Psychological Medicine, 7, 313–332.Google Scholar
Shapiro, E. S. & Barrett, R. P. (1982) Behavioral assessment of the mentally retarded In Treatment Issues and Innovations in Mental Retardation (eds Matson J. L. & Andrasik F.). New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Silverstein, A. B., Legutki, G., Friedman, S. L., et al (1982) Performance of Down's syndrome individuals on the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 86, 548–551.Google ScholarPubMed
Sovner, R. & DesNoyers Hurley, A. (1983) Do the mentally retarded suffer from affective illness? Archives of General Psychiatry, 40, 61–67.Google Scholar
Sovner, R., DesNoyers Hurley, A. & LaBrie, R. (1985) Is mania incompatible with Down's syndrome? British Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 319–320.Google Scholar
Szymanski, L. S. & Biederman, J. (1984) Depression and anorexia nervosa of persons with Down syndrome. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 89, 246–251.Google Scholar
Winokur, B. (1974) Subnormality and its relation to psychiatry. Lancet, ii, 270–273.Google Scholar
Wisniewski, K. E., Wisniewski, H. M. & Wen, G. Y. (1985) Occurrence of neuropathological changes and dementia of Alzheimer's disease in Down's syndrome. Annals of Neurology, 17, 278–282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wright, E. C. (1982) The presentation of mental illness in mentally retarded adults. British Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 496–502.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.