Aim. Since psychosocial characteristics of drug abuse involve mainly specific personality and emotional changes, it is very important to investigate characteristics of addictive personality in ...relationship with emotional state of the individual. Considering that, the objective of this study was to analyse the relationship between personality structure and emotional state of two different groups: heroin addicts and recreate drug abusers. Methods. The total of 288 (219 males and 69 females; 191 heroin addicts and 97 recreate drug users) clients of Centre for the prevention and treatment of drug abuse in Rijeka completed Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire (EPQ R/A), Beck's Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI). Their average age was 22. Results. In the group of heroin addicts, higher levels of anxiety and depression were significantly correlated with higher levels of psychoticism, neuroticism, criminality and addiction. In the group of recreate drug users, higher extraversion and social conformity were determined. Furthermore, in the first group was found even higher depression. However when the anxiety level was compared between these two groups, there was no significant difference. Conclusion. Overall, the findings implied that the used measurement instruments could serve as the useful diagnostic tools that could ensure advantageous treatment directions.
Psychological and psychosocial interventions proved to be effective in treatment of depression. The main objective of this study is to examine the effects of psychosocial day care program on the ...quality of life and clinical symptoms of persons with depression.
In a controlled trial, 114 participants aged 20 or older with ICD-10 major depression were recruited after they being discharged from in-patient treatment. The intervention group (n=59) received a 4-month group psychosocial program consisting of psychoeducation, social skills training and therapeutic community, and the control group (n=55) received the usual care. Participants were assessed three times: at baseline, at the end-of-treatment and at 6-months follow-up. The outcome measures were the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale and Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life.
The intervention group had significantly larger symptom reduction compared to control group (F (1,98)=15.11, p<0.01), at both second assessment (−8.31±0.78, p<0.01) and third assessment (−10.7±0.69, p<0.01). Both groups showed significant reduction in depressive symptoms over study time (F (1.53, 150.28)=228.01, p<0.01). The psychosocial intervention program had no statistically significant effect on subjective quality of life.
The psychosocial intervention program led to significant reduction of depressive symptoms but had no effect on patients’ subjective quality of life.
The basic aim of this prospective research was to establish the effect of psychosocial day care programme on the therapy outcomes in patients with schizophrenia.
While 115 patients with schizophrenia ...were invited to participate, 100 of them completed the study and were subdivided into two groups. In addition to pharmacotherapy, the experimental group only (N=50) was integrated into a day-hospital-based psychosocial day care programme. The instruments were applied in three phases: the first measurement for experimental group subjects took place on the first day of psychosocial day-care programme, while for the control group subjects the same was performed on the last day of inpatient care. The second measurement for the experimental group was performed in the end of psychosocial day-care programme, while for the control group patients it occurred four months after inpatient treatment. The third measurement was carried out six months after the second one. The following instruments were applied: General Demographic Questionnaire at the first measurement, Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life-MANSA both at the first and third measurement, and Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale-PANSS at all three measurements.
Experimental group patients showed a statistically significant increase in quality of life outcomes as well as statistically significant decrease in positive symptoms and general psychopathology at all three measurements and with regard to the control group. As to the negative symptoms, only the third measurement revealed a statistically significant difference.
The results obtained indicate that the adjuvant treatment of psychosocial day care programme has a positive effect on treatment outcomes: on the increase of the patients' quality of life, and, to some extent, on the decrease of symptom intensity in positive symptoms in schizophrenia spectrum. However, the effect of psychosocial day-care programme on the negative symptoms was proved to be considerably smaller.
Mood disturbances are characteristic and dominant feature of Mood disorders. Bipolar Affective Disorder (BAD) is a mood disorder which occurs equally in both sexes. BAD may occur in co morbidity with ...other mental diseases and disorders such as: Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Attention Deficit, Panic Disorder and Social Phobia. However, medical disorders (one or more) can also coexist with BAD. Metabolic syndrome is a combination of metabolic disorders that increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. A 61-year old female patient has been receiving continuous and systematic psychiatric treatment for Bipolar Affective Disorder for the last 39 years. The first episode was a depressive one and it occurred after a child delivery. Seventeen years ago the patient developed diabetes (diabetes type II), and twelve years ago arterial hypertension was diagnosed. High cholesterol and triglyceride levels as well as weight gain were objective findings. During the last nine years she has been treated for lower leg ulcer. Since metabolic syndrome includes abdominal obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, increased cholesterol and serum triglyceride levels, the aforesaid patient can be diagnosed with Metabolic Syndrome. When treating Bipolar Affective Disorder, the antipsychotic drug choice should be careful and aware of its side-effects in order to avoid the development or aggravation of metabolic syndrome.
This article reports the case of a patient with partial agenesis of the corpus callosum manifested with corpus callosum syndrome together with signs of brain hemispheres dysfunction: mental ...impairment, epilepsy and pyramidal signs. The patient's malformation is combined with left-handedness while signs of callosal disconnection are not present. Mild cognitive impairment and late epilepsy onset require a multidisciplinary approach since the patient also displays elements of central nervous system malformations.
Psychophysical dermatitis is frequently manifested in patients that suffer from psychiatric illnesses and disorders as well as in patients that suffer from depressive disorders. These diseases occur ...or worsen after acute stress that may trigger them. Difficulties in expressing feelings or impossibility to verbalise them are connected to somatic diseases. In order to emphasize their importance, we will present a case of a 58 years old woman who has been suffering from alopecia areata that developed after her husband's death. The patient doesn't function well since then - she is socially isolated, she has lost self confidence and self esteem. As she has realised it was impossible to live like that, she decided to seek psychiatric help. The patient should be examined through the prism of the interdisciplinary treatment and as an integral structure of the mind and body.
Side-effects arising on the grounds of antidepressant administration pose as a substantial obstacle hindering successful depressive disorder treatment. Side-effects, especially those severe or those ...manifested through dramatic clinical presentations such as panic attacks, make the treatment far more difficult and shake patients' trust in both the treatment and the treating physician. This case report deals with a patient experiencing a moderately severe depressive episode, who responded to duloxetine treatment administered in the initial dose of 30 mg per day with as many as three panic attacks in two days. Upon duloxetine withdrawal, these panic attacks ceased as well. The patient continued tianeptine and alprazolam treatment during which no significant side-effects had been seen, so that she gradually recovered. Some of the available literature sources have suggested the possibility of duloxetine administration to the end of generalised anxiety disorder and panic attack treatment. However, they are outnumbered by the contributions reporting about duloxetine-related anxiety, aggressiveness and panic attacks. In line with the foregoing, further monitoring of each and every duloxetine-administered patient group needs to be pursued so as to be able to evaluate treatment benefits and weigh them against risks of anxiety or panic attack onset.
