Posted by jrbecker on October 31, 2005, at 12:09:32
In reply to Frederick Quitkin, posted by SLS on October 31, 2005, at 10:18:18
I saw him a few years ago when I was participating in a study at Columbia. What a brilliant man. He was actually the first clinician to develop the concept of atypical depression. He will be missed. His NYTimes obituary is below...
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/nyregion/30quitkin.html
October 30, 2005
Dr. Frederic Quitkin, 68, Depression Expert, Dies
By DAVID TULLER
Dr. Frederic Quitkin, a psychiatrist whose research helped establish that certain kinds of depression could best be treated with medications and that schizophrenia was related to neurological impairments rather than problems of childhood, died on Oct. 9 in New York. He was 68.The cause was pancreatic cancer, said his son, Dr. Matt Quitkin of Washington.
Dr. Quitkin, a Manhattan resident, was the founding director of the Depression Evaluation Service at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and a professor of clinical psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
"He developed the concept of an atypical depression that is quite chronic, where people tend to overeat and oversleep and respond very specifically to a group of medications that aren't used that much," said Dr. Donald Klein, director of research at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and a colleague at Columbia.
Many people with depression respond to selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, like Prozac and Zoloft, or a class of drugs known as tricyclics. Dr. Quitkin's research helped establish that atypical depression could be more effectively treated with a class of drugs known as MAO inhibitors, Dr. Klein said.
In addition to his work on atypical depression and schizophrenia, Dr. Quitkin conducted research on other psychiatric disorders, including those associated with drug and alcohol dependence, and on patient responses to treatment with a placebo.
Frederic Quitkin was born in New York City. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton and his medical degree and a doctorate of medical science from the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center.
In addition to his son, he is survived by two daughters, Megan and Rachel, both of New York; and two grandsons.
poster:jrbecker
thread:573741
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051031/msgs/573783.html