Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:57:53.255Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Blink Rate in Psychiatric Illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

J. H. Mackintosh ,
R. Kumar  and
T. Kitamura
J. H. Mackintosh
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham, Uffculme and Charles Burns Clinic, Queensbridge Road, Birmingham
R. Kumar
Affiliation:
All Saints Hospital, Winson Green, Birmingham
T. Kitamura
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, The Medical School, University of Birmingham
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Twenty-three patients diagnosed as depressed and a matched group of normal subjects were interviewed on three occasions using standardised procedures. Their behaviour was quantified from video recordings. The results indicate that blink rate is increased in depression and falls to normal levels during treatment. The effect on blink rate was found to be independent of medication, but was related to the degree of improvement in the patients' condition. By contrast a sample of schizophrenic patients seen on one occasion showed a reduced blink rate which was probably a result of neuroleptic administration.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 143 , Issue 1 , July 1983 , pp. 55 - 57
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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

Grant, E. C. (1965) An ethological description of some schizophrenic patterns of behaviour. In: Proceedings of the Leeds Symposium on Behaviour Disorders. Dagenham: May & Baker.Google Scholar
Grant, E. C. (1969) Human facial expression. Man, 4, 525–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1960) A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 23, 52–62.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Karson, C. N. (1979) Oculomotor signs in a psychiatric population. A preliminary report. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 1057–60.Google Scholar
Karson, C. N., Freed, W. J., Kleinman, J. E., Begelow, L. B. Wyatt, R. J. (1981) Neuroleptics decrease blinking in schizophrenic subjects. Biological Psychiatry, 16 (7) 679–82.Google ScholarPubMed
Polsky, R. & McGuire, M. T. (1979) An ethological analysis of manic-depressive disorder. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 167, 56–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Riemer, M. D. (1955) Abnormalities of the gaze—a classification. Psychiatric Quarterly, 29 (4), 659–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, J. R. (1978) Eye-blinking and schizophrenia: psychosis or tardive dyskinesia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 223–27.Google ScholarPubMed
Trethowan, W. H. & Anderson, E. W. (1973) Psychiatry, 3rd Ed. London: Ballière, Tindall.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The measurement and classification of psychiatric symptoms, 9th ed. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.