Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0036341 (schizophrenia)
 60,220 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

This paper deals with the motivational, demographic and clinical characteristics of individuals who seek psychiatric help at facilities located a great distance from their places of residence. The study identifies two subgroups within this category. The first (Intentional or Type A) group is constituted by persons who, owing to their concerns with the social stigma of mental illness, or driven by the desire for a magical solution to their problems, purposely undertake the journey to a distantly located psychiatric center. The second (Incidental or Type B) group consists of vacationers, hitch-hikers and skid-row individuals. While these "long distance patients" (LDP) did not show any differences when compared with the remainder of clinic attendance on demographic variables, distinct clinical features differentiated the two populations. Most significantly the LDP had a higher incidence of schizophrenia and alcohol related problems. The difference was entirely accounted for by the Type B subgroup ((LDP less than 0.01; Type A, NS; Type B less than 0.001). Implications of this finding have been discussed in view of the suggested relationships between travel and mental illness. Administrative problems of the LDP have been briefly commented upon.
 ...
PMID:The long-distance psychiatric patient in the emergency room. Insights regarding travel and mental illness. 46 82

Inadequate treatment of mood (affective) disorders is related to the mind/body dualism, desinformation about methods of treatment, the stigma of psychiatry, low funding of psychiatric research, low educational priority, and slow acquisition of new knowledge of psychiatry. The "respectable minority rule" has often been accepted without regard to the international expertise, and the consequences of undertreatment have not been weighed against the benefits of optimal treatment. The risk of chronicity increases with delayed treatment, and inadequately treated affective disorders are a leading cause of suicide. During the past 20 years the increase in suicide mortality in Norway has been the second largest in the world. Severe mood disorders are often misclassified as schizophrenia or other non-affective psychoses. Atypical mood disorders, notably rapid cycling and bipolar mixed states, are often diagnosed as personality, adjustment, conduct, attention deficit, or anxiety disorders, and even mental retardation. Neuroleptic drugs may suppress the most disturbing features of mood disorders, a fact often misinterpreted as supporting the diagnosis of a schizophrenia-like disorder. Treatment with neuroleptics is not sufficient, however, and serious side effects may often occur. The consequences are too often social break-down and post-depression syndrome.
 ...
PMID:[Inadequate treatment of affective disorders]. 141 90

Weiss (1989) has proposed abandoning symptom-based diagnosis for schizophrenia research. It is proposed that such a system confuses treatment of symptoms with treatment of the underlying process from which it emanates. Furthermore, it proposes that while a symptom-based system is striving for clarity and objectivity, it is conceptually barren and, thus, offers no treatment framework. A proposed, heuristic model by which to conceptualize major psychiatric disorders is discussed. It is argued that it would have clinical advantages of greater patient acceptance, less social stigma, provide a treatment agenda, allow objective measurement of deficits along a continuum, be more comprehensible by both patient and family, and be more relevant to daily living.
 ...
PMID:Advantages of reconceptualizing schizophrenia in clinical practice. 196 70

Among Mexican-American families, the concept of nervios (nerves) serves as a culturally meaningful illness category for a wide range of conditions, including schizophrenic disorders diagnosed according to psychiatric criteria. This article examines the nature and the meaning of nervios as a notion used by Mexican-American families to understand the schizophrenic illness of a relative. Family descriptions of the condition are presented and the emotional and symbolic meanings of the concept are discussed. The complex and somewhat ambiguous nature of folk conceptions is evidenced not only by variations in the description of nervios but also by the finding that nervios is but one way to view schizophrenic illness. It is suggested that a cultural preference for the term nervios is linked to the efforts of family members to reduce the stigma associated with a mental illness while also reinforcing the strength of family bonds and solidarity by fostering tolerant inclusion of the family member within the home. It is argued that the concept of nervios, and the family emotions that surround this folk label, may mediate the course and outcome of schizophrenic disorder.
 ...
PMID:Ethnopsychiatric interpretations of schizophrenic illness: the problem of nervios within Mexican-American families. 323 15

During the past 10 years, extensive studies have shown that schizophrenia is a true biological illness. Like diabetes and hypertension, it cannot be cured as yet, but it often can be controlled by medication. Schizophrenia, therefore, is not a hopeless condition, and many sufferers who receive proper treatment can lead productive lives. The stigma attached to schizophrenia will disappear, and the resistance to the proper use of drugs will also cease when a change comes about in the way schizophrenia is perceived in the United States. Meanwhile, the unique tragedy of schizophrenia lies in the fact that victims often cannot recognize their illness, refuse treatment, and throw away their lives. The question becomes: Is court-mandated treatment indicated when persons are severely disabled, lack the capacity to make informed decisions, and will suffer mental and physical deterioration if treatment is not given?
 ...
PMID:Schizophrenia, civil liberties, and the law. 338 14

In China, the diagnosis of depression is made much less frequently than in the West, likely because there is a somewhat lower prevalence rate and because of other factors related to culture and to the development of Chinese psychiatry. Some of the relevant factors are: 1) depressed patients often avoid seeking help because of the stigma of mental disorder; 2) many patients seek help from practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine; 3) depression is often diagnosed as schizophrenia because of diagnostic criteria that are broader for schizophrenia and narrower for affective disorder than in the West; and 4) somatization is more frequent in China and many depressives receive the label "neurasthenia".
 ...
PMID:Some issues in the diagnosis of depression in China. 365 79

National admission statistics by diagnosis since 1970, were available from seven WHO member countries. All had officially introduced the ICD 8, but only two countries strictly adhered to the ICD categories in practice. The new 3-digit category 298 (Other psychosis) has met with no success, nor did the new subgroups of schizophrenia with a favourable outcome (295.4, 295.5 and 295.7) gain much acceptance. The discrepancy in diagnostic distribution is virtually unchanged from that before 1970 with a persistent wide concept of schizophrenia in U.S.A. and of depressive illness in England. A new feature is the striking increase in non-psychotic admissions at a time when there is a marked decline in the hospital population. This is taken to indicate that the social stigma attached to the term psychosis persists, and is met with evasion. A preference for unspecified terms (fourth digit 9) is evident, as is the use of terms which leave open whether the patient is psychotic or not (311 in ICD 9). Evidently, instruction in the use of the WHO glossary is called for. In the U.S.A. the replacement of the ICD by the local classification DSM-III is likely to accelerate the reluctance to accept international standards. Moreover, the development of local diagnostic systems for research purposes in England and U.S.A. is not without problems, as there is a disturbing lack of consensus in diagnosis between these two national systems. Obviously, we need the ICD with its clear concepts, and above all the ICD is valuable for securing continuity in diagnostic classification.
 ...
PMID:Persistent discrepancy in international diagnostic practice since 1970. 666 46

Parents of chronic schizophrenics are an understudied population. Few researchers have asked them about their wants, needs, and difficulties. The little work that has been done indicates that their suffering is great, their coping skills better than had been previously assumed, and the stresses they are experiencing almost unendurable. This paper looks at what parents are coping with: a child with a terribly debilitating disease about which little is known, a culture which heaps stigma and shame upon them, very difficult and often unworkable mental health and legal systems, and to top it all off, a large number of clinical (non-researchers) professionals who are ignorant about schizophrenia and often unsympathetic towards the parents. This paper then looks at what little data we have from parents about their needs, and offers suggestions about how parents and professionals might best work together, towards the benefit of all concerned.
 ...
PMID:Parental perspectives on chronic schizophrenia. 683 53

Successful outpatient treatment of schizophrenic disorders largely depends on the patient's ability to form a treatment alliance with mental health professionals. However, even in the context of competent pharmacotherapy, symptoms of schizophrenia often persist under this alliance. The authors review five common syndromes occurring during the course of treatment of patients with schizophrenia that interfere with the therapeutic alliance: paranoia, denial of illness, stigma, demoralization, and terror from awareness of having psychotic symptoms. Mental health clinicians can use specific psychotherapeutic management techniques for these symptoms. Examples of these techniques include "sharing mistrust" for paranoid patients, providing patients who deny their illness with alternate points of view, making admiring and approving statements to demoralized patients, and normalizing experiences of stigmatized patients. The techniques do not require advanced psychotherapy training and can be used, with ongoing supervision, by bachelor's-level mental health workers.
 ...
PMID:Psychotherapeutic management techniques in the treatment of outpatients with schizophrenia. 798 32

This study investigated what type of information reduces stigmatization of schizophrenia. Subjects were presented with one of six varying descriptions of a hypothetical case in which a target individual had recovered from a mental disorder. Subjects were asked if they knew someone with a mental illness. Those individuals who had no previous contact perceived the mentally ill as dangerous and chose to maintain a greater social distance from them. In general, knowledge of the symptoms associated with the acute phase of schizophrenia created more stigma than the label of schizophrenia alone. In contrast, more information about the target individuals post-treatment living arrangements (i.e., supervised care) reduced negative judgments. Implications for public education and future research are discussed.
 ...
PMID:Dispelling the stigma of schizophrenia: what sort of information is best? 797 72


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>