Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0016382 (flushing)
 6,387 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Approximately one third of depressed outpatients present with "anger attacks", sudden spells of anger accompanied by symptoms of autonomic activation such as tachycardia, sweating, flushing, and tightness of the chest. These anger attacks are experienced by the patients as uncharacteristic of them and inappropriate to the situations in which they occur. Depressed patients with anger attacks are significantly more anxious and hostile, and they are more likely to meet criteria for borderline, histrionic, narcissistic, and antisocial personality disorders than depressed patients without anger attacks. Treatment studies suggest that antidepressant treatment of anger attacks in depression is helpful and sage. Anger attacks disappear in 53-71% of depressed outpatients treated with antidepressants such as fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline and imipramine. In addition, the rate of emergence of anger attacks after treatment with fluoxetine (Prozac) (6-7%) is no different from the rates observed after treatment with sertraline (8%) and imipramine (10%), and lower than the rate with placebo (20%). Finally, one can hypothesize that antidepressants that affect serotonergic neurotransmission, known to be involved in the modulation of aggressive behavior in animals and humans, should be particularly effective in this population. Larger placebo-controlled studies, comparing selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as fluoxetine with relatively noradrenergic tricyclic antidepressants such as desipramine, may help us understand whether depressed patients with anger attacks show a distinctive responsiveness to drug treatment.
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PMID:[Anger outbursts in unipolar depressive disorders]. 933 59

A number of phenomenologic studies have demonstrated the marked heterogeneity of unipolar depressive disorders. We have recently identified a subtype of depression characterized by the presence of irritability and anger attacks. These attacks are sudden spells of anger accompanied by symptoms of autonomic activation such as tachycardia, sweating, flushing, and tightness of the chest. They are experienced by depressed patients as uncharacteristic of them and inappropriate to the situations in which they occur. Approximately one third of depressed outpatients present with anger attacks. Patients with unipolar depression and anger attacks frequently experience significant anxiety and somatic symptoms, and are relatively more likely to meet criteria for avoidant, dependent, borderline, narcissistic, and antisocial personality disorders than depressed patients without these attacks. Anger attacks subside in 53% to 71% of depressed outpatients treated with antidepressants, and the degree of improvement in depressive symptoms after antidepressant treatment is comparable in depressed patients with and without anger attacks. In addition, the rate of emergence of anger attacks after treatment with antidepressants (6%-10%) appears to be lower than the rate with placebo (20%). Finally, antidepressants that affect serotonergic neurotransmission, known to be involved in the modulation of aggressive behavior in animals and humans, may be particularly effective in this subtype of depression, but further studies are needed to support this hypothesis.
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PMID:Depression with anger attacks. 984 Jan 94