Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T03:24:16.460Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Autonomic function in depression: A modified methacholine test

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2018

J. T. Rose*
Affiliation:
St. James's Hospital Leeds; 66 North Park Avenue, Roundhay, Leeds 8

Extract

In 1948, Funkenstein, Greenblatt and Solomon reported on a test of autonomic function which is clearly a combination of tests used by earlier workers (McWilliam, 1925; Sachs, 1936; Myerson et al., 1937; Gold, 1943; Altman, 1943). They reported a relationship between the changes in systolic blood pressure induced by injected adrenaline and methacholine and the clinical course, after electro-convulsive treatment in a group of psychiatric patients. This was followed by a considerable volume of work, published by Funkenstein and his colleagues, on the prognostic, diagnostic and other aspects of a test (the adrenaline-methacholine or Funkenstein test) which has aroused steadily increasing interest. The number of papers published has grown continually, and great variation exists in the techniques adopted and the scoring methods used. Some workers have confirmed the original findings whilst others have not. Thus the subsequent literature on the test has shown a pattern not unfamiliar in medicine; enthusiastic first publications followed by reports less satisfactory and more critical, and attempts to carry out a proper evaluation, producing many contradictory results.

Type
Physiological
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1962 

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

Altman, L. L., Pratt, D., and Cotton, J. M. (1943). J. Nerv. and Merit. Dis., 97, 296.Google Scholar
Blumberg, A. G., Cohen, L., and Miller, S. S. A. (1956). J. Hillside Hosp., 5, 216.Google Scholar
Idem (1960). Psychosom. Med., 22, 32.Google Scholar
Brill, N. Q., Crumpton, E., Eiduson, S., Grayson, H. M., and Hellman, L. T. (1959). Arch. Gen. Psychiat., 1, 263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Idem , Richard, R. A., and Berger, L. M. (1968). Arch. Neurol and Psychiat., 79, 716.Google Scholar
Campbell, D. D. (1953). Manic-Depressive Disease. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Cleghorn, R. A. (1955). Psychosom. Med., 17, 367.Google Scholar
Curtis, C. C., Cleghorn, R. A., and Sourkes, T. L. (1960). J. Psychosom. Res., 4, 176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, B. M. (1960). Arch. Gen. Psychiat., 3, 14.Google Scholar
Feinberg, I. (1958). Arch. Neurol., and Psychiat., 80, 488.Google Scholar
Funkenstein, D. H., Greenblatt, M., and Solomon, H. C. (1948). J. Nerv. and Ment. Dis., 108, 409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Idem (1952). Am. J. Psychiat., 108, 652.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Idem, and Meade, L. W. (1954). J. Nerv. and Ment. Dis., 119, 380.Google Scholar
Gellhorn, E. (1953), Physiological Foundations of Neurology and Psychiatry. Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Idem , Redgate, E., and Sigg, E. (1953). Fed. Proc., 12, 50.Google Scholar
Idem, and Redgate, E. (1955). Arch. Internat. Pharmacodyn., 102, 162.Google Scholar
Gold, L. (1943). Arch. Neurol., and Psychiat., 50, 311.Google Scholar
Goodman, L. W., and Gilman, A. G. (1955). The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, page 431. New York.Google Scholar
Grosz, H. J., and Miller, I. (1958). J. Nerv. and Ment. Dis., 127, 417.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1959). J. Psychosom. Res., 4, 117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Idem (1960). J. Neurol. Neurosurg. and Psychiat., 23, 56.Google Scholar
Idem (1960). Acta Psychiat. et Neurol. Scand., 35, 156.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M., and White, J. M. (1960). J. Ment. Sci., 106, 1031.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrington, M. (1953). Clin. Sci., 12, 185.Google Scholar
Hess, W. R. (1954). Diencephalon, Autonomic and Extrapyramidal Functions. New York.Google Scholar
Lotsof, E. J., and Yobst, J. (1957). Psychosom. Med., 19, 374 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lunde, F., Mansfield, E., and Smith, J. A. (1958). J. Nerv. and Ment. Dis., 127, 430.Google Scholar
Maas, J. W. (1958). Arch. Neurol., and Psychiat., 79, 585.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayer-Gross, W. (1954). Brit. Med. J., ii, 948.Google Scholar
McWilliam, W. (1925). J. Ment. Sci., 71, 432.Google Scholar
Munro, D. (1958). The Reliability of the Funkenstein Test, Unpublished Thesis. University of Glasgow.Google Scholar
Myerson, A., Loman, J., and Dameshek, W. (1937). Am. J. Med. Sci., 193, 198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rickels, K., and Ewing, J. H. (1959). J. Clin. and Exper. Psychopath., 20, 303.Google Scholar
Roberts, J. M. (1959). J. Ment. Sci., 105, 703.Google Scholar
Satterfield, J. H. (1959). Arch. Neurol., and Psychiat., 81, 513.Google Scholar
Sloane, R. B., and Lewis, D. J. (1956). J. Psychosom. Res., 1, 273.Google Scholar
Idem , Lewis, D. J., and Slater, P. (1957). Arch. Neurol., and Psychiat., 78, 294.Google Scholar
Idem , Saffran, M., and Cleghorn, R. A. (1958). Arch. Neurol and Psychiat., 79, 549.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.