Huntington's disease: Correlations of mental status with chorea

Psychiatric symptoms in neurologically asymptomatic Huntington's disease gene carriers: a comparison with gene negative at risk subjects

“…Whilst not directly contradicting earlier results, our finding that similar rates of history of psychiatric morbidity can be found amongst gene negative subjects, sets in some perspective earlier views that such morbidity is linked to genes [e.g. the study by Webb & Trzepacz (15)]. In addition to using no controls, the latter study was only based on 10 subjects who at the time of assessment had already motor disorder and cognitive impairment.…”

“…Two reasons for this variation are method of ascertainment and over‐diagnosis because of confounding by `behavioural phenocopies' (17). Isolated complaints such as irritability, apathy (13), excessive worrying and somatizations (14, 15) are common but rarely meet Diagnostic Statistic Manual (DSM)‐IV or ICD‐10 criteria for an Axis 1 diagnosis. The commonest psychotic symptoms are delusions of persecution (13).…”

Common neurological disorders associated with psychological-behavioral problems.

“…White, Vasterling, et al (1992) desctibed a significant level of alcohol and drug abuse in some HD patients and their families. White, Vasterling, et al, as well as Webb and Trzepacz (1987), observed that the majority of alcohol use was during earlier stages of the disease and tended to drop as the disease 300 WHITE, KRENGEL, AND THOMPSON progressed. They raised the possibility that fot some, the use of alcohol and other recreational drugs may be a form of self-medication.…”

“…Investigatots have found evidence of behavioral and mood changes occurring several years before the onset of the motor impairments (Bird, 1980;S. E. Folstein, Abbott, Chase, Jensen, & Folstein, 1983;Hayden, 1981;Mayeux et al, 1981;Webb & Trzepacz, 1987). The finding that HD patients experience manic episodes in addition to depression (S. E. Folstein, 1989;McHugh, 1989;Pflanz, Besson, Ebmeier, & Simpson, 1991) also constitutes evidence suggesting the organic nature of the changes.…”

Behavioural complaints in participants who underwent predictive testing for Huntington's disease

“…2 3 Irritable behaviour, aggression, and depression are most commonly seen in the first phase of the disease. 4 Anxiety, obsessions, and apathy are also extremely common in HD. In certain families, major affective disorders may appear as early as 20 years before the onset of chorea and dementia.…”