•There is moderate awareness related to transmission and symptoms of COVID-19 among educated population in India.•There is adequate awareness among public regarding preventive measures for COVID-19 ...infection.•There is a positive attitude of public towards social-distancing, avoiding party and travel and maintaining hygiene.•People report anxiety, worries, paranoia about acquiring infection and sleep disturbances during this pandemic.•More the 80 % people perceive mental healthcare need to deal with their issues during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Novel Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) originating from China has rapidly crossed borders, infecting people throughout the whole world. This phenomenon has led to a massive public reaction; the media has been reporting continuously across borders to keep all informed about the pandemic situation. All these things are creating a lot of concern for people leading to heightened levels of anxiety. Pandemics can lead to heightened levels of stress; Anxiety is a common response to any stressful situation. This study attempted to assess the knowledge, attitude, anxiety experience, and perceived mental healthcare need among adult Indian population during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire using a non-probability snowball sampling technique. A total of 662 responses were received.
The responders had a moderate level of knowledge about the COVID-19 infection and adequate knowledge about its preventive aspects. The attitude towards COVID-19 showed peoples' willingness to follow government guidelines on quarantine and social distancing. The anxiety levels identified in the study were high. More than 80 % of the people were preoccupied with the thoughts of COVID-19 and 72 % reported the need to use gloves, and sanitizers. In this study, sleep difficulties, paranoia about acquiring COVID-19 infection and distress related social media were reported in 12.5 %, 37.8 %, and 36.4 % participants respectively. The perceived mental healthcare need was seen in more than 80 % of participants. There is a need to intensify the awareness and address the mental health issues of people during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been increasingly used in the treatment of various neuropsychiatric disorders including depression over the past two decades. The responses to treatment ...with TMS are variable as found in the recent studies. Evidences suggest that various factors influence the outcome of depression treated with TMS. Understanding the predictors of response to TMS treatment in depression will guide the clinician in appropriate selection of patients for TMS treatment as well as needful modification in the TMS technique and protocol to have a better clinical outcome. This article comprehensively reviews the factors that predict the outcome of TMS treatment in depression.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a time tested treatment modality for the management of various psychiatric disorders. There have been a lot of modifications in the techniques of delivering ECT ...over decades. Despite lots of criticisms encountered, ECT has still been used commonly in clinical practice due to its safety and efficacy. Research evidences found multiple neuro-biological mechanisms for the therapeutic effect of ECT. ECT brings about various neuro-physiological as well as neuro-chemical changes in the macro- and micro-environment of the brain. Diverse changes involving expression of genes, functional connectivity, neurochemicals, permeability of blood-brain-barrier, alteration in immune system has been suggested to be responsible for the therapeutic effects of ECT. This article reviews different neurobiological mechanisms responsible for the therapeutic efficacy of ECT.
Cognitive deficits are one of the core symptoms of schizophrenia that evolve during the course of schizophrenia, after being originated even before the onset of illness. Existing pharmacological and ...biological treatment modalities fall short to meet the needs to improve the cognitive symptoms; hence, various cognitive remediation strategies have been adopted to address these deficits. Research evidences suggest that cognitive remediation measures improve the functioning, limit disability bettering the quality of life. The functional outcomes of cognitive remediation in schizophrenia are resultant of neurobiological changes in specific brain areas. Recent years witnessed significant innovations in cognitive remediation strategies in schizophrenia. This comprehensive review highlights the biological correlates of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and the remedial measures with evidence base.
Background: Growing evidence points to the role of vitamin D in the pathobiology and treatment of depression. However, the evidence is inconsistent in many aspects. The objectives of this narrative ...review were to evaluate the state of the evidence, synthesize the knowledge gaps, and formulate recommendations for more enhanced research in this growing area. Methods: Electronic searches of MEDLINE via PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar databases were carried out from inception till February 2019 to identify relevant English language peer-reviewed articles. Abstracts generated were systematically screened for eligibility. Included articles were grouped under three broad themes: The association between vitamin D and depression, its biological underpinnings, and trials evaluating the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in depression. Relevant data were extracted as per a structured proforma. Results: A total of 61 articles were included in the present review. Overall findings were that there is a relationship between vitamin D and depression, though the directionality of this association remains unclear. The association appears to be driven by the homeostatic, trophic, and immunomodulatory effects of vitamin D. Evidence from supplementation trials suggest a more robust therapeutic effect on subjects with major depression and concurrent vitamin D deficiency. Conclusion: Serum vitamin D levels inversely correlate with clinical depression, but the evidence is not strong enough to recommend universal supplementation in depression. Enriching depression treatment trials with subjects having concurrent vitamin D deficiency appears to be a potential step forward in identifying subgroups who may maximally benefit from this approach.
Depression is a common mental disorder, which attributes to significant morbidity, disability and burden of care. A significant number of patients with depression still remain symptomatic after ...adequate trials of antidepressant treatment as well as psychotherapy, which is often referred to as treatment-resistant depression. Neuromodulation techniques—like electroconvulsive therapy, vagus nerve stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation, may be useful augmenting techniques in depression, mostly recommended for treatment-resistant cases. Robust evidence exists regarding the efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy in the management of treatment-resistant depression; however, other techniques are understudied. TMS has been increasingly studied in various psychiatric disorders including depression. It has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for use in major depressive disorder. Over the past two decades, TMS has been studied in diverse groups of the population with depression using several research designs. This article gives an overview of the efficacy of repetitive TMS in treatment-resistant depression with the recent evidence.
Adolescence, derived from the Latin word "adolescere" meaning "to grow up" is a critical developmental period. During adolescence, major biological as well as psychological developments take place. ...Development of sexuality is an important bio-psycho-social development, which takes an adult shape during this period. During adolescence, an individual′s thought, perception as well as response gets colored sexually. Puberty is an important landmark of sexuality development that occurs in the adolescence. The myriad of changes that occurs in adolescents puts them under enormous stress, which may have adverse physical, as well as psychological consequences. Understanding adolescent sexuality has important clinical, legal, social, cultural, as well as educational implications.
•Panic buying is an emerging phenomenon observed during COVID-19 pandemic.•We aimed to evaluate the nature, extent, and impact of panic buying as reported in the media.•A high proportion of reports ...have been found from the developed countries.•There is a need for further studies to explore the issue as well as to prevent the episodes.
Panic buying is an emerging phenomenon observed during, but not restricted to, pandemic.
We aimed to evaluate the nature, extent, and impact of panic buying as reported in the media.
This study was conducted by collecting the information from the English media reports published till 22nd May 2020. A structured format was developed to collect data. Searching was done by using the keyword “panic buying”. We have excluded the social media posts discussing the panic buying.
The majority of media reporting was from the USA (40.7 %), and about 46 % of reports highlighted the scarce item. Approximately 82 % of the reports presented the causes of panic buying whereas almost 80 % report covered the impact of it. About 25.7 % of reports highlighted the rumor about panic buying and only 9.3 % of reports blamed the government. Only 27.1 % reports described the remedial measures, 30.8 % reports conferred the news on the psychology behind panic buying and 67.3 % news displayed the images of empty shelves.
A high proportion of reports on panic buying have been found from the developed countries discussing the causes & impact of panic buying on the basis of expert opinion.
PDF
