The therapeutic effect of distance healing as an adjunct to standard antidepressant medication was examined in a study using a randomized, double-blind, longitudinal design. Adult patients (N = 40) admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit for major depression, aged 19-81 years, were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group. All subjects received standard treatment for depre...

A cohort of 33 people at risk for Huntington's disease (HD), applying for genetic testing, were tested with a battery of neuropsychological tests covering attentional, visuospatial, learning, memory, and planning functions. A psychiatric rating scale, SCL-90R, was also applied, mainly as a control, since cognitive dysfunction could be ascribed to functional disorders as well as neurodegenerativ...

OBJECTIVES Ayahuasca (AYA), a natural psychedelic brew prepared from Amazonian plants and rich in dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and harmine, causes effects of subjective well-being and may therefore have antidepressant actions. This study sought to evaluate the effects of a single dose of AYA in six volunteers with a current depressive episode. METHODS Open-label trial conducted in an inpatient ps...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the degree of self-stigma in schizophrenia and its association with clinical and demographic factors. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 197 outpatients (54.3% females) diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder) according to International Classification of Diseases - tenth editi...

BACKGROUND Neuroimaging studies have suggested the possible role of the cerebellum in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. However, no study has investigated the detailed structures of the cerebellum in patients without a history of neuroleptic medication. The objective of this study is to examine the volume of detailed structures of the cerebellum in neuroleptic-naive schizophrenic patients a...

objectives: liver cirrhosis can change many aspects of life of the patients and their family and effects society. we aimed to study the utility of cirrhosis from the point of view of the patients, their family, and their care takers to find appropriate interventions, and training and counselling programmes to support patients. methods: in this cross-sectional study with a goal-based sampling me...

OBJECTIVE The current study examined driver behaviors and patterns among drivers with multiple sclerosis (MS) as a function of disease severity and in comparison to drivers without MS. DESIGN Between-group comparisons of participants with and without MS and cohorts of MS groups at varying levels of severity. SETTING All data were collected in an outpatient research setting. PARTICIPANTS C...

BACKGROUND Patient-Reported Expanded Disability Status Scale (PREDSS) tools are an attractive alternative to the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) during long term or geographically challenging studies, or in pressured clinical service environments. OBJECTIVES Because the studies reporting these tools have used different metrics to compare the PREDSS and EDSS, we undertook an individual...