About
22
Publications
767
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
430
Citations
Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Publications
Publications (22)
Objectives: To explore the presence of PTSD and the potential correlations between the risk of developing PTSD and the lifetime mood spectrum signs and symptoms, as assessed with the Mood Spectrum Questionnaire Lifetime Version (MOODS-SR), in a sample of survivors of a liquid gas train crash in Italy, in 2009. Methods: One hundred eleven subjects w...
The fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) introduced noteworthy revisions to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) criteria, including a four-factor model and some new symptomatic criteria. To date, only a limited number of studies investigated the impact of such changes on the prevalence rates of the di...
Alcohol dependence is a major public health problem with a huge social and economic burden. However, alcohol dependence is both underdiagnosed and undertreated, as it is estimated that less than 10% of people diagnosed with alcohol dependence or abuse in Europe receive any form of treatment. Among the factors that have contributed to this undertrea...
Since Cullen coined the term "neurosis" in the 18th century, medical investigators have searched the neural substrates of conditions we now classify as anxiety disorders. Harper and Roth in 1962 hypothesized that the temporal lobes might represent one such substrate for phobic-anxious patients with depersonalization-derealization (DD); the associat...
The aim of the trial was to assess alpidem efficacy in preventing and treating the benzodiazepine (BZ) withdrawal syndrome (WS). A multicentre, double-blind, randomized versus placebo, parallel group study of six-week duration was carried out in outpatients suffering from generalized anxiety or adjustment disorder with an anxious mood and taking no...
Alpidem was compared to placebo in a double-blind, randomized, parallel group trial to investigate its activity in preventing and treating BZ withdrawal syndrome (WS). The trial duration was 4 weeks (alpidem 50 mg or placebo bid or tid), followed by a 2-week discontinuation period. SESSB scale and DSM-III-R for WS evaluation, HAMA to score anxiety...
Side effects play a significant role in the selection of drugs to be used in panic disorder/agoraphobia whose polyphobic symptomatology often includes a suspiciousness about taking drugs and a fear of undesired side effects which may lead to the refusal of treatment. The safety, side effects and patients' acceptance of alprazolam and imipramine ver...
In spite of recognition of a specific syndrome after abrupt discontinuation of benzodiazepine therapy, albeit acknowledging its clinical and epidemiologic relevance, few operational criteria and instruments have been developed for objectively assessing the signs and symptoms of the benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome. We describe here a new scale fo...
The diagnosis, course, and therapeutic management of the benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome is still a debated question. The correct method for clinical trials in this indication is also not yet codified. A large sample of patients is required, so the trial must be conducted on a multicenter basis. The present paper describes the main features of a...
Anxiety and mood disorders are among the psychic afflictions which tend to lead to prolonged benzodiazepine intake. This is also one of the reasons why doctors are faced with a difficult task when having to differentiate between these phenomena and the anxiolytic withdrawal syndrome. Since preexisting psychiatric pathology may modify withdrawal sym...
Pharmacological and biochemical studies indicate that for many receptors, distinct subtypes exist; the multiplicity and diversity of signal reception proteins increase the information-handling capacity of neurons, thus contributing to neural plasticity. This is also the case for the allosteric modulatory-centre omega of the GABA-A receptor. Binding...
Benzodiazepines (BDZ) are widely prescribed in clinical practice for many pathological conditions, because of their anxiolytic, sedative, myorelaxant and anticonvulsant properties. The effectiveness, specificity and rapidity of action, the few side effects and the virtual absence of toxicity, have contributed to the widespread use of these compound...
The authors reviewed pharmacologic treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), particularly treatment with benzodiazepine agents, and compared the antianxiety effects and dependence risks of these agents with those of nonGABAergic compounds such as buspirone--a new psychotropic drug--in the treatment of chronic anxiety. Forty outpatients who m...
We compared 40 outpatients with "pure" generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) with 152 panic disordered patients with varying degrees of phobic avoidance, and 241 primary major depressives with single and recurrent episodic patterns. Despite sociodemographic and symptomatologic overlaps with these comparison groups, GAD emerged as a relatively distinct...
One hundred fifty patients with Panic Disorder (PD) with or without Phobic Avoidance were subdivided into two groups on the basis of presence/absence of derealization and/or depersonalization (D-D) during panic attacks. D-D was found in 34.7% of the sample. By comparing the two groups, the patients with D-D were found to be younger and had an earli...
Clomipramine and imipramine treatments were compared in a sample of 152 panic disorders. Diagnosis was according to the positive criteria of DSM-III-R, but without exclusion of comorbid affective or personality disorders. The 2-year design provides non-blind treatment under typical clinical practice conditions, and it includes random assignment, pe...
Demographic and clinical characteristics of two groups of patients with panic disorder with (N = 64) and without (N = 200) histories of school phobia and separation anxiety during childhood were analyzed comparatively. Patients were selected according to the DSM-III-R Draft criteria and were not excluded on account of concomitant forms of mood diso...
Impotence is the apparent result of various organic disorders and/or may be found as caused by or in concomitance with several mental disturbances.3,18,20 Causes for such a pathological condition have been searched for in the realm of endocrinologic, metabolic, and neurophysiologic functions, and they have been explained through complex personal an...