Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-31T15:05:32.207Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Recurrent Unipolar Depressions with a 48-hour Cycle: Report of a Case

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Alan J. Gelenberg ,
Gerald L. Klerman ,
Ernest L. Hartmann  and
Patricia Salt
Alan J. Gelenberg
Affiliation:
Special Studies Clinic, Erich Lindemann Mental Health Center; Harvard Medical School, Boston; Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, 02114
Gerald L. Klerman
Affiliation:
Stanley Cobb Psychiatric Research Laboratories, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114; Harvard Medical School, Boston
Ernest L. Hartmann
Affiliation:
Sleep and Dream Laboratory, Boston State Hospital; Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston
Patricia Salt
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Since 1804 there have been twelve case reports of patients with mood disorders showing a regular periodicity of 48 hours, eight bipolar and four unipolar. This paper describes an additional patient, a 57-year-old man with a 48-hour unipolar cycle. Although his 24-hour serum Cortisol pattern was abnormal, there were few clear-cut biological abnormalities. Possible mechanisms are discussed, and comparisons made with previous reports of similar patients.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 133 , Issue 2 , August 1978 , pp. 123 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1978 

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

Axelrod, J. (1974) The pineal gland: A neurochemical transducer. Science, 184, 1341–8.Google Scholar
Bunney, W. E. & Hartmann, E. L. (1965) Study of a patient with 48-hour manic-depressive cycles: I. An analysis of behavioural factors. Archives of General Psychiatry, 12, 611–18.Google Scholar
Bunney, W. E. & Hartmann, E. L. & Mason, J. W. (1965) Study of the patient with 48-hour manic-depressive cycles: Part II. Strong, positive correlation between endocrine factors and manic defense patterns. Archives of General Psychiatry, 12, 619–25.Google Scholar
Carroll, B. J. (1976) Limbic system-adrenal cortex regulation in depression and schizophrenia. Psychosomatic Medicine, 38, 106–21.Google Scholar
Durell, J. (1967) Biological rhythms and psychiatry: Psychoendocrine mechanisms. Symposium of Bel-Air III, Geneva, Switzerland. Cycles Biologiques et Psychiatrie, 321–38.Google Scholar
Gelenberg, A. J. (1976) The catatonic syndrome. The Lancet, i, 1339–41.Google Scholar
Gelenberg, A. J. & Klerman, G. L. (1978) The effects of amitriptyline and lithium on a patient with recurrent unipolar depressions with a 48-hour cycle. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease (in press).Google Scholar
Greenberg, R. & Pearlman, C. (1976) Psychoanalytic dream continuum: The source and function of dreams. International Review of Psychology, 2, 441–8.Google Scholar
Hartmann, E., Verdone, P. & Snyder, F. (1968) Longitudinal studies of sleep and dreaming patterns in psychiatric patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 142, 117–26.Google Scholar
Hopewood, P. S., Hendren, W. H. & Hale, J. R. (1978) Electromagnetic forces and circadian rhythms (letters to Editor). New England Journal of Medicine, 294, 501–2.Google Scholar
Jenner, F. A., Goodwin, J. C. & Sheridan, M. et al (1968) The effect of an altered time regime on biological rhythms in a 48-hour periodic psychosis. British Journal of Psychiatry, 114, 215–24.Google Scholar
Jenner, F. A., Gjessing, L. R. & Cox, J. R. et al (1967) A manic depressive psychotic with a persistent 48-hour cycle. British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 895–910.Google Scholar
Mendels, J. & Hawkins, D. (1971) Sleep and depression. Longitudinal studies. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 153 (4), 251–72.Google Scholar
Menninger-Lerchenthal, E. (1960) Periodizität in der Psychopathologie. Vienna: Maudrich.Google Scholar
Miles, L. E. M., Raynal, D. M. & Wilson, M. A. (1977) Blind man living in normal society has circadian rhythms of 24.9 hours. Science, 198, 421–3.Google Scholar
The Pineal (editorial) (1974) Lancet, 2, 1235–7.Google Scholar
Richter, C. P. (1960) Biological clocks in medicine and psychiatry: Shock-phase hypothesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.A.), 46, 1506–30.Google Scholar
Sachar, E. J., Hellman, L., Roffwarg, H. P. et al (1973) Disrupted 24-hour patterns of Cortisol secretion in psychotic depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 28, 19–24.Google Scholar
Webb, W. B. & zAgnew, H. W. (1974) Sleep and waking in a time-free environment. Aerospace Medicine, 45, 617–22.Google Scholar
Von Stockert, F. G. (1958) Pathophysiologic einer in 48-Stunden-Rhythmus verlaufenden periodischer Katatonie. Confinia Neurologica (Basle), 18, 183–8.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.