There is a small body of research about mental and physical comorbidity in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients despite the fact that some psychiatric disorders and physical conditions are ...commonly comorbid with PTSD. In this study, we researched the relationship between PTSD and its mental and physical comorbidities by comparing the number of patient hospitalizations across two ten-year periods. Our sample consisted of 2761 patients with warfare PTSD hospitalized during the 20-year period (1999-2018). The results confirmed a higher number of hospitalizations in the 2009-2018 period than in the 1999-2008 period for the group of PTSD patients with both mental and physical comorbidity. Furthermore, no significant difference was found in the number of hospitalizations between the two ten-year periods for the group of PTSD patients with mental comorbidity. We argued that both mental and physical comorbidities along with PTSD are needed to induce a significantly higher level of distress in patients, resulting in a higher number of hospitalizations after a longer period of time. Patients with the most severe conditions and comorbidity have a greater need to seek help from mental health professionals as their mental and physical state deteriorates to a higher degree when not in the treatment of any kind.
Objective:
It is well documented that religion has an impact on mental health of both healthy people and mental health patients. However, scientific research regarding the influence of religion on ...sexual experiences and sexual self-perception in mental health patients and healthy people is very scarce.
Goal:
Therefore, our goal was to research how and in what measure religious and atheistic views of patients suffering from depression and schizophrenia and healthy people influence their sexual functions and sexual self-perception.
Subjects and Methods:
This research was conducted on 100 patients suffering from schizophrenia and 100 patients suffering from depression, while 100 healthy individuals served as a control group. DMS-IV criteria were used when diagnosing schizophrenia and depression. In order to research the aspects of sexual self-perception we used Bezinović's questionnaire and Arizona sexual experience scale (ASEX) to research the aspects of sexual intercourse.
Results:
Results show that Roman-Catholic patients suffering from schizophrenia experience greater sexual satisfaction than Eastern-Orthodox or atheist schizophrenic patients. Among patients suffering from depression in regard to their differing religious views there were no significant differences regarding sexual satisfaction or the aspects of sexual self-perception. Furthermore, there is a significant difference among healthy individuals when taking into consideration religious views. We established that Muslims have a significantly stronger sexual drive then atheists, Roman-Catholic or Eastern-Orthodox individuals. Compared to Roman-Catholic and Eastern-Orthodox individuals, atheists have better consciousness of their own sexuality.
Conclusion:
We can conclude that religious views have an influence on sexual functioning and sexual self-perception of patients suffering from depression and schizophrenia and also healthy individuals. Thus, further research on a bigger sample of participants—not only of those religious denominations covered in this research, but also of those that are less present in our society and of other mental health disorders and illnesses—is needed.
Background: Sexual self-perception is just one of the items of the complex system of self, which has rarely been researched in the population of mental health patients. Objective: Our goal was to ...establish whether the differences in sexual self-perception exist between schizophrenic and depressive patients compared with the healthy control group. Participants and methods: This research was performed on 100 schizophrenic patients, 100 depressive patients and 100 phenotypically healthy volunteers. In order to diagnose schizophrenia and depression, DSM-IV classification was used. Bezinovic's questionnaire for sexual self-perception was used in order to assess seven aspects of sexual self-perception. Results: Results revealed that schizophrenic and depressive patients, compared with healthy individuals, scored significantly higher on the aspects of negative emotionality and sexual incompetence, and significantly lower on the aspect of sexual satisfaction. No statistically significant differences were established between schizophrenic and depressive patients. Conclusion: We can conclude that patients suffering from schizophrenia or depression differ from healthy individuals in all of the aspects of sexual self-perception.
The data of the "Little Ice Age" (1500-1850) in Croatia and those which applied to human health were especially emphasized were analyzed. They are some which stand out like: importance of the sort of ...soil and relief, the influence of cutting down of woods and cattle-breeding and especially the war which lasted for 250 years in the territory of Croatia. The important interactions between those parameters were defined. The important correlations were also defined between freezing and long winters as well as wet springs and summers which caused starvation, malnutrition and the increase of infant mortality and also epidemics with enormous psychological stress among people in that period. The result was witch-hunting and burning (which was also advocated in the other parts of Europe) and they sometimes reached the levels of madness. Considering that such events were unknown in the earlier periods (in such proportions) and that (even today) the influence of the slow virus is emphasized in connection to the etiology of schizophrenia so why should't it be supposed that the "Litlle Ace Age" could be the cause of the larger prevalence of schizophrenia in the teritory of Croatia.
The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in satisfaction with life and coping strategies between patients with acute and chronic urticaria.
Sixty patients with urticaria were divided ...into 2 groups after 6 weeks of standardized dermatology treatment (33 patients with acute and 27 patients with chronic urticaria). At baseline, all patients answered the following questionnaires: Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI-A), The Multidimensional Coping Inventory (COPE) and General questionnaire (age, gender, education, employment, marital status). After six weeks all the participants were re-tested with 2 questionnaires: SWLS and PWI-A.
Six weeks after the initial testing there was a statistically significant difference in satisfaction with life between patients with acute and chronic urticaria. Patients with acute urticaria were more satisfied with their lives than patients with chronic urticaria. Also, there was a statistically significant difference in the use of emotion-focused coping, seeking social support for emotional reasons and seeking social support for instrumental reasons. Patients with acute urticaria used emotion-focused coping and sought social support for emotional and instrumental reasons to a greater degree than patients with chronic urticaria.
Patients with acute urticaria were more satisfied with their lives than patients with chronic urticaria. Patients with acute urticaria used emotion-focused coping and sought social support for emotional and instrumental reasons to a greater degree than patients with chronic urticaria.
For the general public, but also for healthcare professionals, schizophrenia is still one of those areas of medicine connected with feelings of unease, fear and prejudice. These feelings lead to ...stigmatization and discrimination which are unjust processes which put patients suffering from mental illnesses into undesirable and unequal positions. Aim of this research was to establish the extent of stigmatization of mentally ill patients among the population of healthcare professionals and future healthcare professionals and if they differ from general population. Results show that stigmatization of schizophrenic patients is high among all included populations. Although there were no statistical differences between groups regarding the assessment of schizophrenic patients, nurses employed in psychiatric wards exhibited a tendency towards higher acceptance of schizophrenic patients, as well as better understanding of that illness. This data emphasizes a growing need for continuous education of general population but also of healthcare professionals.
Use of antipsychotic medication during the entire course of pregnancy in patients suffering from schizophrenia is frequently necessary as discontinuation of therapy can lead to relapse of the illness ...which can be far more severe for the mother, but also for the fetus. That is the case why third generation antipsychotics, so called atypical antipsychotics, are also being used during the pregnancy, but their effects are not fully researched. Use of ziprasidone as a third generation antipsychotic, and its effects during the pregnancy in patients suffering from various mental illnesses is very rarely described in scientific literature. There is even fewer information regarding eventual adverse events of ziprasidone in newborn babies of mothers that have been treated with ziprasidone during the entire course of pregnancy. This paper will be based around a case report of a female patient suffering from schizophrenia who has been treated with ziprasidone during the entire course of her pregnancy and whose newborn baby was diagnosed with a cleft palate (palatoschisis) at the time of birth.
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