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Time course of prefrontal lobe dysfunction in severely depressed in-patients: a longitudinal neuropsychological study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

C. Trichard ,
J. L. Martinot ,
M. Alagille ,
M. C. Masure ,
P. Hardy ,
D. Ginestet  and
A. Féline
C. Trichard*
Affiliation:
Hôpital de Bicêtre, Service de Psychiatrie, Bicêtre; INSERM U334 and CNRS URA 1285, Service Hospitalier F. Joliot, Orsay; Hôpital P. Brousse, Service de Psychiatrie, Villejuif, France
J. L. Martinot
Affiliation:
Hôpital de Bicêtre, Service de Psychiatrie, Bicêtre; INSERM U334 and CNRS URA 1285, Service Hospitalier F. Joliot, Orsay; Hôpital P. Brousse, Service de Psychiatrie, Villejuif, France
M. Alagille
Affiliation:
Hôpital de Bicêtre, Service de Psychiatrie, Bicêtre; INSERM U334 and CNRS URA 1285, Service Hospitalier F. Joliot, Orsay; Hôpital P. Brousse, Service de Psychiatrie, Villejuif, France
M. C. Masure
Affiliation:
Hôpital de Bicêtre, Service de Psychiatrie, Bicêtre; INSERM U334 and CNRS URA 1285, Service Hospitalier F. Joliot, Orsay; Hôpital P. Brousse, Service de Psychiatrie, Villejuif, France
P. Hardy
Affiliation:
Hôpital de Bicêtre, Service de Psychiatrie, Bicêtre; INSERM U334 and CNRS URA 1285, Service Hospitalier F. Joliot, Orsay; Hôpital P. Brousse, Service de Psychiatrie, Villejuif, France
D. Ginestet
Affiliation:
Hôpital de Bicêtre, Service de Psychiatrie, Bicêtre; INSERM U334 and CNRS URA 1285, Service Hospitalier F. Joliot, Orsay; Hôpital P. Brousse, Service de Psychiatrie, Villejuif, France
A. Féline
Affiliation:
Hôpital de Bicêtre, Service de Psychiatrie, Bicêtre; INSERM U334 and CNRS URA 1285, Service Hospitalier F. Joliot, Orsay; Hôpital P. Brousse, Service de Psychiatrie, Villejuif, France
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Christian Trichard, SHFJ CEA. 4 place du Général Leclerc, 91401 Orsay Cedex, France.
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Synopsis

The Stroop Colour-Word Test (SCWT) and the Verbal Fluency Test (VFT), two tests that have been suggested to be particularly sensitive to prefrontal dysfunction, were administered to 23 severely depressed in-patients. Both tests were impaired in patients at inclusion, but only verbal fluency normalized with successful treatment of depression. VFT impairment is consistent with the hypothesis of a left prefrontal cortex dysfunction in depression. Moreover, the persistence of an impaired performance on SCWT in patients at discharge suggests that a selective attention deficit may persist in patients beyond a clear clinical improvement.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , January 1995 , pp. 79 - 85
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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