The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is universally acknowledged as the prominent reference textbook for the diagnosis and assessment of psychiatric diseases. However, since the publication of its first version in 1952, controversies have been raised concerning its reliability and validity and the need for other novel clinical tools has emerged. Currently the DSM is i...

The prevalence of psychosomatic disorders among dermatological patients is high but frequently unreported because of difficulties in diagnosing and treating this patient group. Psychiatric and psychological factors may play different roles in the pathogenic mechanism of some skin diseases. The mainstay of diagnosis and treatment is the differentiation between skin disorders associated with psyc...

OBJECTIVE This article will discuss the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), with particular attention to differentiating it from other diseases that can mimic it. METHODS We reviewed our own data, as well as the published experience on the differential diagnosis of MS and the most common errors leading to misdiagnosis. RESULTS Psychiatric diseases are mistaken for multiple sclerosis more ...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNA molecules that negatively regulate gene expression via degradation or translational repression of their target messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Recent studies have clearly demonstrated that miRNAs play critical roles in several biologic processes, including cell cycle, differentiation, cell development, cell growth, and apoptosis and that miRNAs are highly expr...

other nations already had prohibited this technique. While in the aftermath of the approval of chlorpromazine as first medicament for the treatment of psychiatric diseases in 1954 psychopharmacological therapy progressively began to revolutionize the psychiatric world, surgical methods for the treatment of psychiatric diseases involving gross damage of brain tissue were abandoned. However, enco...

Border zone disorders involve neurological disorders with psychiatric symptoms and signs as well as psychiatric disorders with soft neurological features. This becomes a cause for great diagnostic and therapeutic concerns. We, in this paper, analyzed some of the imitators such as epilepsy, dementia, some forms of encephalitis, and pure psychiatric diseases which produce problems in decision mak...

Objective: To describe the safety of medicines available in “Brazilian List Essential Medicines” (RENAME/2022) for main comorbidities that affect older persons according to Beers criteria 2019. Methods: Medicines listed RENAME and recommended by respective Brazilian medical guidelines treatment hypertension, heart failure, diabetes, neurological/ psychiatric diseases were evaluated their profil...

It is unusual for acute disseminated encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis to present as purely psychiatric disorders. We report five patients with such demyelinating diseases and symptoms of psychosis, depression or anxiety. The importance of excluding demyelination as the basis for these psychiatric disturbances is emphasized, especially in the presence of unexplained neurologic findings. ...

Patients with medically intractable epilepsy often present with comorbid psychiatric diseases. When referred to a program for the surgical treatment of the epilepsies, these patients benefit from a pre-admission psychiatric assessment with a view to lessen the chances of a psychiatric crisis during the pre- and postoperative investigations. This article proposes a practical approach to the psyc...

Outbreaks of infectious diseases in psychiatric units are very different from those in intensive care units or acute medical-surgical units. Outbreaks in psychiatric units are most often caused by agents circulating in the community. Infection control in psychiatric units also faces unique challenges due to the characteristics of the patients and facilities.