Allen Frances, MD, identifies a number of concerns about the draft DSM5 revisions.1 Not mentioned in his commentary, but of significant concern, is a proposal that might subsume tic disorders… Read More
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a prevalent, chronic, debilitating mental illness associated with marked impairment in daily functioning… Read More
It has been a relatively short time between clinical use of the term anxiety neurosis—which included worry, panic, and obsessions—and the advent… Read More
Commentary on: Straub H, Adams M, Kim JJ, et al. Antenatal depressive symptoms increase the likelihood of preterm birth. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2012;207:329.e1–4.
Implications for practice and research
Screening for prenatal depressive symptoms and pregnancy anxiety is recommended.
In predicting birth outcomes, essential controls include antidepressant use, medical risk conditions, body mass index and smokin
Commentary on: Kent B, Anderson NE, Owens RG. Nurses’ early experiences with patient death: the results of an on-line survey of Registered Nurses in New Zealand. Int J Nurs Stud 2012;49:1255–65.
Implications for practice and research
The study draws attention to the issue of patient death and its impact on staff well-being, moral and mental health, calling for these areas to be taken more seriously.
This article reviews the most recent studies that compare psychological outcomes after either a medical or a surgical abortion to pre-procedure findings. Some studies demonstrated slightly higher levels of anxiety and depression following surgical versus medical methods. Studies that evaluated post-traumatic stress showed conflicting results. Overall, the majority of the studies demonstrated that psychological outcomes, specifically quality of life, anxiety and depression, are markedly improved following either method. Finally, the studies reviewed suggest that having a choice of method may improve women's psychological outcomes following abortion.
Collaborative chronic care models (CCMs) improve outcome in chronic medical illnesses and depression treated in primary care settings. The effect of such models across other treatment settings and mental health conditions has not been comprehensively assessed. The authors performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the comparative effectiveness of CCMs for mental health conditions across disorders and treatment settings.|Randomized controlled trials comparing CCMs with other care conditions, published or in press by August 15, 2011, were identified in a literature search and through contact with investigators. CCMs were defined a priori as interventions with at least three of the six components of the Improving Chronic Illness Care initiative (patient self-management support, clinical information systems, delivery system redesign, decision support, organizational support, and community resource linkages). Articles were included if the CCM effect on mental health symptoms
The personality as a system of genetically predetermined features is responsible for modifying relations between an individual's genotype and phenotype. The key element linking personality with facial morphology is the muscular system.|The aim of this study was to investigate the association between facets of the five-factor personality model (FFM) domains and both the morphology and function of the stomathognatic system.|Two hundred volunteers (100 female and 100 male) aged 20 to 25 (mean age: 23.4) underwent anthropometric measurements to calculate the anterior face height ratio N-Sn/Sn-Gn. For cephalometric analysis, standard right-profile images of the face were used. Calibration was performed with a 100-mm metal ruler placed next to each photographed individual. The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R), which includes 240 statements, was used for personality assessment in order to investigate the five main personality domains: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to
Nursing Standard's nurse of the year Johanne Tomlinson won the award for her innovative anxiety management programme at Stafford prison. Here, a group of serving prisoners explain how it helped them to cope with traumatic experiences, rebuild their confidence and look to the future.
To catalog the side effects of 2.4 atmospheres absolute (atm abs) hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) vs. sham on post-concussion symptoms in military service members with combat-related, mild traumatic brain injury (TBI).|Fifty subjects diagnosed with TBI were randomized to either a sham (1.3 atm abs breathing air) or treatment (2.4 atm abs breathing 100% oxygen) hyperbaric profile. Forty-eight subjects completed 30 exposures. Medical events during hyperbaric exposures were separately annotated by medical staff and chamber operators. After the blind was broken, events were segregated into the exposure groups.|These side effects were observed as rate (sham/treatment): ear block (ear barotrauma) 5.51% (1.09%/5.91%), sinus squeeze 0.14% (0.0%/0.27%), and confinement anxiety 0.27% (0.27%/0.27%). Other conditions that occurred included: headache 0.61% (0.68%/0.54%); nausea 0.2% (0.14%/0.27%); numbness 0.07% (0%/0.13%); heartburn 0.07% (0.14%/0%); musculoskeletal chest pain 0.07% (0%/0.13%); latex
Because of their complex social structures, behaviors, and genetic similarities to humans, nonhuman primates are useful for studying how genetic factors influence alcohol consumption. The neurobiological systems that influence addiction vulnerability may do so by acting on alcohol response, reward pathways, behavioral dyscontrol, and vulnerability to stress and anxiety. Rhesus macaques show individual differences in alcohol response and temperament, and such differences are influenced by genetic variants that are similar functionally to those present in humans. Genes at which variation moderates these phenotypes include those encoding monoamine oxidase A (MAOA-LPR), the serotonin transporter (HTTLPR), corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH-248C/T and -2232 C/G), Neuropeptide Y (NPY-1002 T/G), and the -opioid receptor (OPRM1 C77G). These provide opportunities for modeling how genetic and environmental factors (i.e., stress, individual's sex, or alcohol exposure) interact to influence
Alcoholism can be defined by a compulsion to seek and take drug, loss of control in limiting intake, and the emergence of a negative emotional state when access to the drug is prevented. Alcoholism impacts multiple motivational mechanisms and can be conceptualized as a disorder that includes a progression from impulsivity (positive reinforcement) to compulsivity (negative reinforcement). The compulsive drug seeking associated with alcoholism can be derived from multiple neuroadaptations, but the thesis argued here is that a key component involves the construct of negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement is defined as drug taking that alleviates a negative emotional state. The negative emotional state that drives such negative reinforcement is hypothesized to derive from dysregulation of specific neurochemical elements involved in reward and stress within the basal forebrain structures involving the ventral striatum and extended amygdala, respectively. Specific neurochemical
Reviews the evidence for and against hundreds of preventive health services, recommending tests, and counseling interventions when evidence exists that it is effective.
Reviews the evidence for and against hundreds of preventive health services, recommending tests, and counseling interventions when evidence exists that it is effective.
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What Happens if Healthcare Reform Really Works Jim Doulgeris, April 18, 2013 The economic consequences of shrinking over one sixth of the U.S. economy without an overall strategy could be disastrous.
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