CATASTROPHIC REACTION AFTER CEREBROVASCULAR LESIONS - FREQUENCY, CORRELATES, AND VALIDATION OF A SCALE

The frequency and correlates of the catastrophic reaction (CR) were ex amined in 52 consecutive patients with an acute stroke lesion. A new s cale proved reliable for measuring the severity of CR. The CR was sign ificantly associated with depression, a personal and family history of psychiatric disorder, and subcortical lesions, which were mostly loca ted in the basal ganglia. Patients with and without a CR, when matched for the presence and type of depression, differed only in that CR pat ients had significantly more anterior lesions and a significantly high er frequency of subcortical damage. Results demonstrate that the CR is significantly associated with poststroke depression and may be a spec ific manifestation of certain types of poststroke depression.