OBJECTIVE Little is known about the epidemiology of substance use disorders (SUD) among psychiatric inpatients in the Western Cape, South Africa. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the prevalence of SUD among acute adult psychiatric inpatients at Stikland Hospital, one of three state acute psychiatric hospitals in the Western Cape. METHOD A prospective descriptive prevalence surve...

BACKGROUND Suicidal and violent behaviours are interlinked and share common biological underpinnings. In the present study we analysed the association between violent behaviour as a child, childhood trauma, adult psychiatric illness, and substance abuse in relation to interpersonal violence as an adult in suicide attempters with mood disorders. METHODS A total of 161 suicide attempters were d...

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) plays a central role in human behavior. Anatomically connected with association areas of all sensory modalities, limbic structures, prefrontal cortical regions that mediate executive function and subcortical nuclei, this brain region can serve to integrate the physical and emotional attributes of a stimulusobject and establish a motivational value based on estimat...

life traumatic experiences are major health problems in different communities. early trauma exposures such as physical and sexual abuse, and midlife traumatic events like exposing to disasters are predisposing and precipitating risk factors for many psychiatric disorders, although many people facing to trauma may not show any problematic symptoms and are quite resilient. neuropsychiatric eviden...

The aims of this study were to examine whether certain axis I disorders characterized by impulsive aggression were associated with self-mutilative behavior and to evaluate the clinical correlates of self-mutilation in a sample of general psychiatric outpatients. Two hundred fifty-six outpatients were administered diagnostic interviews for axis I and axis II disorders. In addition, questionnaire...

Presumed distinctions between substance dependence and substance abuse have been at the heart of the development and utilization of substance-based diversion from criminal prosecution to treatment for the past several decades, including its use in drug courts. These distinctions have been promulgated by organized psychiatry since the publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Menta...

Persons with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in singular presentation may experience profound threats to self-esteem; activities of daily living; marital, family, social relationships; and occupational functioning. OCD is present in a number of comorbid conditions, the most risky of which elevate suicide risk. This paper examines the prevalence, assessment methods, clinical features, and tr...

Contemporary American society struggles to find solutions to multiple problem behaviors involving crime, delinquency, violence, and substance abuse (Elliott et al. 1989; Hawkins et al. 1992; Reiss et al. 1993; Sampson and Laub 1993). Research evidence indicates that these phenomena are interrelated and that individuals demonstrating one behavioral disorder, such as substance abuse, are at incre...

OBJECTIVE The relationship between sexual abuse and eating disorders remains uncertain. Recent data have raised the possibility of differential rates of sexual abuse among subtypes of eating disorders. METHODS We studied women with three subtypes of eating disorders: (1) 26 anorexia nervosa subjects (AN); (2) 20 bulimia nervosa subjects with comorbid substance dependence (BN + SDD); and (3) 2...

Recent case reports in medical literatures suggest that more and more second-generation atypical antipsychotics (AAs) have been prescribed for off-label use; quetiapine (Brand name: Seroquel®) showed increase in its trend for off-label use. Little is known about the reasons behind this trend, although historical sedative and hypnotic prescription patterns suggest that despite relatively superio...