Objectives. This study examined the effect of whether participants were on or off their medications and the effect of questionnaire wording on self-reported symptoms in young adults with ADHD. Additionally, this research evaluated the relationships between these self-reported symptoms and objective performance on measures of working memory.Design. This experimental study utilized a mixed factorial design with one betweensubjects factor (whether participants were unmedicated or medicated at the time they completed their assessment) and one within-subjects factor (whether participants reported their on-medication or off-medication symptoms when describing their ADHD subjective symptomatology).Methods. Forty-five young adults with ADHD (ages 18-23) completed a brief neuropsychological evaluation and several self-report questionnaires.Results. Although being medicated or unmedicated while completing the questionnaires did not directly affect self-reported symptoms or their accuracy, questionnaire wording exerted a statistically significant effect on subjective symptomatology; participants described themselves as substantially more symptomatic at times when they are off than at times when they are on their medications. More importantly, their general selfperceptions (symptoms when medication state was not specified) of their Inattention/ Memory Problems and their Hyperactivity/Restlessness aligned with their descriptions of their off-medication symptoms, whereas their general self-perceptions of their Impulsivity/Emotional Lability and Problems with Self-Concept related to both their selfreported off-medication and on-medication symptoms.Conclusions. These results highlight the necessity of specifying medication state when asking patients to report their current symptomatology. Failing to do so risks an overreporting of symptoms from patients who are typically on medications as they may describe the extent of their unmedicated, rather than medicated, symptomatology.

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Disturbances of visual memory are a permanent finding in schizophrenia. Several devices are used to assess the subcomponents of this cognitive domain. One of the first tests to examine visual memory in general was Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT) which is simple, short and can be easily administered in routine clinical conditions. In this preliminary study we examined BVRT in the light of recently used tests whether it is a reliable method to monitor visual memory in schizophrenic patients.

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IntroductionDepressive symptoms frequently co-occur in alcohol dependence. However, little is known about the relationship between depressive symptoms and personality functioning in alcohol dependence.AimsThe aim of this study was to reveal the role of depressive symptoms in the adaptivity of personality functioning. Therefore, alcohol-dependent patients with and without depressive symptoms, depressed patients and normal controls were compared along the personality factors of the biosocial model.MethodsDepressed patients (N = 57), alcohol-dependent individuals with (N = 41) and without (N = 41) depressive symptoms, and normal controls (N = 55) were involved. The Beck Depression Inventory was administered to determine the severity of depressive symptoms. Subjects were tested using Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised, which measures 4 temperament: novelty-seeking (NS); harm avoidance (HA); reward dependence (RD); persistence (P) and 3 character dimensions: self-directedness (SD); cooperativeness (C); self-transcendence (ST).ResultsAlcohol-dependent groups showed higher level of NS than depressed and control subjects (F = 6.33, p < 0.001). Alcohol addicted patients with depressive symptoms and depressed individuals scored lower level of HA than the other groups (F = 21.41, p < 0.001). In the case of P the lowest score was observed among alcohol-dependent individuals with depressive symptoms (F = 3.63, p = 0.014). On the SD (F = 25.25, p < 0.001) and C (F = 3.61, p = 0.014) all 3 patient groups showed significantly lower scores than normal controls.ConclusionBased on the severity of depressive symptoms, alcohol addicted persons show different personality profile. Our results suggest that depressive symptoms are related to maladaptive personality functioning in alcohol dependence; therefore it has to be considered during the treatment process. TÁMOP-4.2.1/B-09/1/KONV-2010-0005