Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-gtxcr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T11:52:58.472Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Conditioning and Sensitisation in the Longitudinal Course of Affective Illness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Robert M. Post ,
David R. Rubinow  and
James C. Ballenger
Robert M. Post*
Affiliation:
Biological Psychiatry Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Building 10, Room 3N212, 9000 Rockville Pike. Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
David R. Rubinow
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
James C. Ballenger
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
*
∗Correspondence
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Few biological theories of manic-depressive illness have focused on the longitudinal course of affective dysfunction and the mechanisms underlying its often recurrent and progressive course. The authors discuss two models for the development of progressive behavioural dysfunction—behavioural sensitisation and electrophysiological kindling—as they provide clues to important clinical and biological variables relevant to sensitisation in affective illness. The role of environmental context and conditioning in mediating behavioural and biochemical aspects of this sensitisation is emphasised. The sensitisation models provide a conceptual approach to previously inexplicable clinical phenomena in the longitudinal course of affective illness and may provide a bridge between psychoanalytic/psychosocial and neurobiological formulations of manic-depressive illness.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 149 , Issue 2 , August 1986 , pp. 191 - 201
Copyright
Copyright © 1986 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

Adamec, R. (1975) Behavioural and epileptic determinants of predatory attack behaviour in the cat. Canadian Journal of Neurological Science, 2, 457–466.Google Scholar
Akiskal, H. S. & McKinney, W. T. Jr (1975) Overview of recent research in depression. Integration of ten conceptual models into a comprehensive frame. Archives of General Psychiatry, 32, 285–305.Google Scholar
Albright, P. S. & Burnham, W. M. (1980) Development of a new pharmacological seizure model: effects of anticonvulsants on cortical- and amygdala-kindled seizures in the rat. Epilepsia, 21, 681–689.Google Scholar
Aleksandrowicz, D. R. (1980) Psychoanalytic studies of mania In Mania: An Evolving Concept (eds Belmaker, R. H., van Praag, H. M.). New York: Spectrum Publications.Google Scholar
Amelas, A. (1979) Psychologically stressful events in the precipitation of manic episodes. British Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 15–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Angst, J. (1978) The course of affective disorders. II. Typology of bipolar manic-depressive illness. Archive für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten (Berlin), 226, 65–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Angst, J. & Grof, P. (1976) The course of unipolar depression and bipolar psychoses In Lithium in Psychiatry: A Symposium (ed Villeneuve, A.). Quebec: Presses de l'Universite Laval.Google Scholar
Anisman, H. (1984) Vulnerability to depression: contribution of stress In Neurobiology of Mood Disorders (eds Post, R. M., Ballenger, J. C.). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Anisman, H. & Sklar, L. S. (1979) Catecholamine depletion upon exposure to stress: mediation of the escape deficits produced by inescapable shock. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 93, 610–625.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Antelman, S. M. & Eichler, A. J. (1979) Persistent effects of stress on dopamine-related behaviours: clinical implications In Catecholamines: Basic and Clinical Frontiers (ed. Usdin, E.). New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Antelman, S. M. & Eichler, A. J., Black, C. A. & Kocan, D. (1980) Interchangeability of stress and amphetamine in sensitisation. Science, 207, 329–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Babington, R. G. (1977) The pharmacology of kindling In Aminol Models in Psychiatry and Neurology (eds Henin, I. & Usdin, E.). Oxford/New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T. (1970) The core problem in depression: the cognitive triad In Depression: Theories and Therapies (ed. Masserman, J.). New York: Grune & Stratum.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T. (1976) Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders. New York: International Universities Press.Google Scholar
Belenkov, N. Y. & Shalkovskaya, L. N. (1980) Role of dominant motivation in manifestation of the effects of electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus and limbic region. Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology, 10, 112–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, G. W., Bhrolchain, M. N. & Harris, T. (1975) Social class and psychiatric disturbance among women in an urban population. Sociology, 9, 225–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunney, W. E. Jr, & Garland, B. L. (1984) Lithium and its modes of action In Neurobiology of Mood Disorders (eds Post, R. M. & Ballenger, J. C.). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Cassens, G., Kuruc, A., Roffman, M., Orsulak, P. J. & Schildkraut, J. J. (1981) Alterations in brain norepinephrine metabolism and behaviour induced by environmental stimuli previously paired with inescapable shock. Behavioural Brain Research, 2, 287–407.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, M. B., Baker, G., Cohen, R. A., Fromm-Reichmann, F. & Weigert, E. V. (1954) An intensive study of twelve cases of manic-depressive psychosis. Psychiatry, 17, 103–137.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collins, J. P., Lesse, H. & Dagan, L. A. (1979) Behavioural antecedents of cocaine-induced stereotypy. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 11, 683–687.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cutler, N. R. & Post, R. M. (1982) Life course of illness in untreated manic-depressive patients. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 23, 101–115.Google Scholar
Deutch, A. Y., Tam, S.-Y. & Roth, R. H. (1985) Footshock and conditioned stress increase 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) in the ventral tegmental area but not substantia nigra. Brain Research, 333, 143–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dollard, J. & Miller, N. E. (1950) Personality and Psychotherapy: An Analysis in Terms of Learning, Thinking and Culture. New York/Toronto/London: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Drugan, R. C., Grau, J. W., Maier, S. F., Madden, J. & Barchas, J. D. (1981) Cross tolerance between morphine and the long-term analgesic reaction to inescapable shock. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 14, 677–682.Google Scholar
Dunner, D. L., Fleiss, J. L. & Fieve, R. R. (1976) Lithium carbonate prophylaxis failure. British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 40–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunner, D. L. & Hall, K. S. (1980) Social adjustment and psychological precipitants in mania In Mania: An Evolving Concept (eds Belmaker, R. H. & van Praag, H. M.). New York: Spectrum Publications.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1917) Mourning and melancholia. Collected 1957 in Standard Edition, London: Hogarth.Google Scholar
Goddard, G. V., McIntyre, D. C. & Leech, C. K. (1969) A permanent change in brain function resulting from daily electrical stimulation. Experimental Neurology, 25, 295–330.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grof, P., Angst, J. & Haines, T. (1974) The clinical course of depression: practical issues In Classification and Prediction of Outcome of Depression (ed Schattauer, F. K.). New York: Schattauer Verlag.Google Scholar
Henn, F. A. (1984) The anatomy (and mechanisms) of melancholia (in animait). Abstract of the Annual Meeting, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Dec. 10–14, 1984, San Juan, Puerto Rico.Google Scholar
Herman, J. P., Guillonneau, D., Dantzer, R., Scatton, B., Smekdjian-Rouquiek, L. & LeMoal, M. (1982) Differential effects of inescapable footshocks and of stimuli previously paired with inescapable footshocks on dopamine turnover in cortical and limbic areas of the rat. Life Sciences, 30, 2207–2214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hinson, R. E. & Poulos, C. X. (1981) Sensitisation to the behavioural effects of cocaine: modification by Pavlovian conditioning. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 15, 559–562.Google Scholar
Jackson, R. L., Maier, S. F. & Coon, D. J. (1979) Long-term analgesic effects of inescapable shock and learned helplessness. Science, 206, 91–93.Google Scholar
Jimerson, D. C. & Post, R. M. (1984) Psychomotor stimulants and dopamine agonists in depression In Neurobiology of Mood Disorders (eds Post, R. M. & Ballenger, J. C.). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Kilbey, M. M. & Ellinwood, E. H. Jr (1977) Reverse tolerance to stimulant-induced abnormal behaviour. Life Sciences, 20, 1063–1076.Google Scholar
Kishimoto, A. & Okuma, T. (1985) Antimanic and prophylactic effects of carbamazepine in affective disorders. Abstracts of IVth World Congress of Biological Psychiatry, Sept. 8–13, 1985, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Kopa, J., Szabo, I. & Grastyan, E. (1968) A dual behavioural effect from stimulating the same thalamic point with identical stimulus parameter in different conditional reflex situations In Biological Foundations of Emotion (ed. Gellhorn, E.). Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman.Google Scholar
Kraepelin, E. (1921) Manic-Depressive Insanity and Paranoia. Edinburgh: Livingstone.Google Scholar
Kukopulos, A., Reginalde, D., Laddomada, P., Flows, G., Serra, G. & Tondo, L. (1980) Course of the manic-depressive cycle and changes caused by treatments. Pharmakopsychialria, 13, 156–167.Google Scholar
Lloyd, C. (1980) Life events and depressive disorder reviewed. II. Events as precipitating factors. Archives of General Psychiatry, 37, 541–548.Google Scholar
Martres, M. P., Costentin, J., Baudry, M., Marcais, H., Protais, P. & Schwartz, J. C. (1977) Long-term changes in the sensitivity of pre- and post-synaptic dopamine receptors in mouse striatum evidenced by behavioural and biochemical studies. Brain Research, 136, 319–337.Google Scholar
McKinney, W., Moran, E. C. & Kraemer, G. W. (1984) Separation in subhuman primates as a model for depression In Neurobiology of Mood Disorders (eds Post, R. M. & Ballenger, J. C.). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Meyersburg, H. A. & Post, R. M. (1979) An holistic developmental view of neural and psychological processes: a neurobiologic-psychoanalytic integration. British Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 139–155.Google Scholar
Miller, N. E. & Weiss, J. M. (1969) Effects of somatic or visceral responses to punishment In Punishment and Aversive Behavior (eds Campbell, B. A. & Church, R. M.). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S. (1979a) Recent life events in the development of the depressive disorders In The Psychobiology of the Depressive Disorders (ed. Depue, R. A.). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Paykel, E. S. (1979b) Causal relationship between clinical depression and life events In Stress and Mental Disorder (eds Barrett, J. E., Rose, R. M. & Klerman, G. L.). New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Perez-Cruet, J. (1976) Conditioning of striatal dopamine metabolism with methadone, morphine, or bulbocapnine as an unconditioned stimulus. Pavlovian Journal of Biological Science, 11, 237–250.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Perris, C. (1966) A study of bipolar (manic-depressive) and unipolar depressive psychosis. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 194, 1–88.Google Scholar
Pickar, D., Cowdry, R. W., Zis, A. P., Cohen, R. M. & Murphy, D. L. (1984) Mania and hypomania during antidepressant pharmacotherapy: clinical and research implications In Neurobiology of Mood Disorders (eds Post, R. M. & Ballenger, J. C.). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Pinel, J. P. J. (1981) Kindling-induced experimental epilepsy in rats: cortical stimulation. Experimental Neurology, 72, 559–569.Google Scholar
Pinel, J. P. J. (1983) Effects of diazepam and diphenylhydantoin on elicited and spontaneous seizures in kindled rats: a double dissociation. Pharmacology. Biochemistry and Behaviour, 18, 61–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pinel, J. P. J. & Rovner, L. I. (1978) Experimental epileptogenesis: kindling-induced epilepsy in rats. Experimental Neurology, 58, 190–202.Google Scholar
Post, R. M. (1980) Intermittent versus continuous stimulation: effect of time interval on the development of sensitisation or tolerance. Life Sciences, 26. 1275–1282.Google Scholar
Post, R. M. (1981) Lidocaine-kindled limbic seizures: behavioural implications In Kindling 2 (ed. Wada, J. A.). New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Post, R. M., Ballenger, J. C., Rev, A. C. & Bunney, W. E. Jr (1981a) Slow and rapid onset of manic episodes: implications for underlying biology. Psychiatry Research, 4, 229–237.Google Scholar
Post, R. M., Ballenger, J. C., Uhde, T. W. & Bunney, W. E. Jr. (1984) Efficacy of carbamazepine in manic-depressive illness: implications for underlying mechanisms In Neurobiology of Mood Disorders (eds Post, R. M. & Ballenger, J. C.). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Post, R. M., Gerner, R. H., Carman, J. S., Gillin, J. C., Jimerson, D. C., Goodwin, F. K. & Bunney, W. E. Jr (1978) Effects of a dopamine agonist piribedil in depressed patients: relationship of pretreatment HVA to antidepressant response. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 609–615.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Post, R. M., Kennedy, E., Shinohara, M., Squillace, K., Miyaoka, M., Suda, S., Ingvar, D. H. & Sokoloff, L. (1984) Metabolic and behavioural consequences of lidocaine-kindled seizures. Brain Research, 324, 295–303.Google Scholar
Sokoloff, L. & Kopanda, R. T. (1976) Cocaine, kindling, and psychosis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 133, 627–634.Google Scholar
Sokoloff, L., Lockfeld, A., Squillace, K. M. & Contel, N. R. (1981b) Drug environment interaction: context dependency of cocaine-induced behavioural sensitisation. Life Sciences, 28, 755–760.Google Scholar
Sokoloff, L., Rubinow, D. R. & Ballenger, J. C. (1984) Conditioning, sensitisation, and kindling: implications for the course of affective illness In Neurobiology of Mood Disorders (eds Post, R. M. & Ballenger, J. C.). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Sokoloff, L., Uhde, T. W., Putnam, F. W., Ballenger, J. C. & Berrettini, W. H. (1982) Kindling and carbamazepine in affective illness. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 170, 717–731.Google Scholar
Sokoloff, L., Uhde, T. W., Rubinow, D. R., Gold, P. W. & Joffe, R. T. (1985) Efficacy and mechanisms of action of carbamazepine in affective disorder. Abstracts of IVth World Congress of Biological Psychiatry, September 8–13, 1985, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Sokoloff, L., Uhde, T. W., Rubinow, D. R., & Weiss, S. R. B. (1986) Antimanic effects of carbamazepine: mechanisms of action and implications for the biochemistry of manic-depressive illness In Mania: New Research and Treatment (ed. Swan, A.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association Press. In Press.Google Scholar
Sokoloff, L., Weiss, S. R. B., Pert, A. & Uhde, T. W. (1985) Chronic cocaine administration: sensitisation and kindling effects In Cocaine: Clinical and Biobehavioral Aspects (ed. Fisher, S.). New York: Oxford University Press, in press.Google Scholar
Prien, R. F. (1984) Five-center study clarifies use of lithium, imipramine for recurrent affective disorders. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 35, 1097–1098.Google Scholar
Racine, R. (1978) Kindling: the first decade. Neurosurgery, 3, 234–252.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roy-Byrne, P. P., Post, R. M., Uhde, T. W., Porcu, T. & Davis, D. (1985) The longitudinal course of recurrent affective illness: life chart data from research patients at the NIMH. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, (suppl 317) 71, 5–34.Google Scholar
Schiff, S. R., Bridger, W. H., Sharpless, N. S. & Barboni, C. (1981) Conditioned drug effects: implications for neuropsychopharmacology. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 17, 162–163.Google Scholar
Schou, M. (1982) Lithium in recurrent affective illness. Scientific Proceedings of the American Psychiatric Association, Abstract 6F, p 39.Google Scholar
Segal, D. S. & Mandell, A. J. (1974) Long-term administration of d-amphetamine: progressive augmentation of motor activity and stereotypy. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior, 2, 249–255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seligman, M. E. P. (1975) Helplessness: On Depression, Development, and Death. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.Google Scholar
Shuster, L., Yu, G. & Bates, A. (1977) Sensitisation to cocaine stimulation in mice. Psychopharmacology, 52, 185.Google Scholar
Siegel, S. (1979) The role of conditioning in drug tolerance and addiction In Psychopathology in Animals: Research and Clinical Applications (ed. Keehn, J. D.). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Sklar, A. D. & Harris, R. F. (1985) Effects of parent loss; interaction with family size and sibling order. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 708–714.Google Scholar
Squillace, K. M., Post, R. M., Savard, R. & Erwin, M. (1984) Life charting of the longitudinal course of recurrent affective illness In Neurobiology of Mood Disorders (eds Post, R. M. & Ballenger, J. C.). Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins.Google Scholar
Vogel, W. H. (1983) Animal models of depression: the model of learned helplessness In Symposium on Special Aspects of Psychopharma-cology (eds Ackenheil, M. & Matussek, N.). Paris: Expansion Scientifique Française.Google Scholar
Wada, J. A., Sato, M. & Corcoran, M. E. (1974) Persistent seizure susceptibility and recurrent spontaneous seizure in kindled cats. Epilepsia, 15, 65–478.Google Scholar
Wada, J. A., Sato, M. Wake, A., Green, J. R. & Trouptn, A. S. (1976) Prophylactic effects of Phenytoin, phenobarbital and carbamazepine examined in kindled cat preparations. Archives of Neurology, 33, 426–434.Google Scholar
Weiss, J. A. & Simson, P. G. (1984) Neurochemical basis of stress-induced depression. Abstract of Annual Meeting, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Dec. 10–14, 1984, San Juan, Puerto Rieo, p. 24.Google Scholar
Weiss, S. R. B. & Post, R. M. (1985a) Carbamazepine and carbamazepine-10, 11-epoxide inhibit amygdala kindled seizures in the rat but do not block their development. Submitted to J. Neurol., Neurosurg., Psychiat.Google Scholar
Weiss, S. R. B. & Post, R. M., Szele, F., Woodward, R. (1986b) Differential anticonvulsant effects of carbamazepine as a function of stage and type of kindling. Soc. Neuroscience Abstract, 12, in press.Google Scholar
Weissman, M. (1979) The psychological treatment of depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 34, 1261–1269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolpe, J. (1973) Practice of Behavior Therapy (2nd Edition). New York: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Zis, A. P. & Goodwin, F. K. (1979) Major affective disorder as a recurrent illness. Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 835–839.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.