Ayahuasca is an Amazonian botanical hallucinogenic brew which contains dimethyltryptamine, a 5-HT2A receptor agonist, and harmine, a monoamine-oxidase A inhibitor. Our group recently reported that ayahuasca administration was associated with fast-acting antidepressive effects in 6 depressive patients. The objective of the present work was to assess the antidepressive potentials of ayahuasca in ...

A 15-item questionnaire used to evaluate competency to consent to psychiatric hospitalization was validated using a blind forensic psychiatric interview. The statistical correlation was excellent with p < .001. The questionnaire also correlated highly with the Mini-Mental State exam (p < .05), the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (p < .05), and the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised vocabu...

impact of psychoeducational groups for caregivers on the psychiatric symptoms of patients with schizophrenia     shaygan m [1] *, sharif f [2]     received: 21 nov, 2012 accepted: 11 feb , 2013     abstract:   background & aims : schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder, which is extremely stressful not only for the persons affected but also for their families.   materials & methods : to ...

Bilateral deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the globus pallidus internus (GPi) alleviates symptoms in patients with dystonia but its effects on cognition, neuropsychiatric status, and quality of life have not been examined. This is a case series report of 15 consecutive patients with different forms of dystonia who underwent bilateral implantation of DBS electrodes in the GPi. The patients were e...

The reliability and validity of a Portuguese version of the Young Mania Rating Scale were evaluated. The original scale was translated into and adapted to Portuguese by the authors. Definitions of clinical manifestations, a semi-structured anchored interview and more explicit rating criteria were added to the scale. Fifty-five adult subjects, aged 18 to 60 years, with a diagnosis of Current Man...

AIM The aim of the study was the assessment of types and incidence of aggressive behaviours amongst psychiatric patients with violent acts marked in the referrals. METHODS 107 patients with aggressive or autoaggressive behaviours admitted to the General Hospital of Mental Disorders in Lubiaz and 37 controls without aggressive acts in referrals were examined. Two-way data analysis of the quali...

A series of Community Psychiatric Clinics were conducted in different blocks of Sundarban region of West Bengal. One of the primary objectives of this was to collect clinical epidemiological data on psychiatric morbidity in the region. A total of 26 clinics were conducted in Sagar, Kakdwip, Canning and Gosaba block of the Sundarban region during the period from end 1998 to end 2000. A total of ...

BACKGROUND Prescription corticosteroids are given for a variety of common medical conditions. Psychiatric symptoms including depression, psychosis, and especially mania are common side effects of corticosteroid therapy. However, minimal data are available on the treatment of corticosteroid-induced psychiatric symptoms. METHOD In this study, 12 outpatients with manic or mixed symptoms secondar...

The Multidimensional Scale of Independent Functioning (MSIF) is a new instrument for rating functional disability in psychiatric outpatients. The MSIF differs from other disability rating scales by providing discrete ratings of (1) role responsibility, (2) presence and level of support, and (3) performance quality. The MSIF, which consists of a semistructured interview and detailed rating ancho...

We investigated the validity of expressed emotion (EE) in Israel. The study sample consisted of 108 patients with schizophrenia and 15 with schizoaffective disorder, and their key relatives. EE was rated with the Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS). Patient households were categorized by EE and its two components: criticism and emotional overinvolvement. Patients were rated with the Brief Psychiat...