BACKGROUND Symptom rating scales are now well established in schizophrenia research but their scores are not the same as outcome. AIMS To appraise the usefulness of symptom rating scales in evaluating the outcome of people with schizophrenia. METHOD Literature on the use of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Clinical Global Imp...

Deficits on two continuous performance test versions and the forced-choice span of apprehension task, which are potential vulnerability factors for schizophrenic disorders, were examined in relationship to particular symptoms of schizophrenic disorders, with emphasis on hypothesized relationships to formal thought disorder and negative symptoms. These interrelationships were determined concurre...

BACKGROUND Differential effects of genes and environment can contribute to etiological heterogeneity in schizophrenia. Twins concordant and discordant for schizophrenia may differ in genetic predisposition to schizophrenia with concordant twins having a higher genetic liability and discordant twins having a lower genetic liability to schizophrenia. We aimed to investigate whether P300 amplitude...

BACKGROUND Improvements are greatest in the earlier weeks of antipsychotic treatment of patients with non-resistant schizophrenia. AIMS To address the early time-line for improvement with antipsychotics in treatment-resistant schizophrenia. METHOD Randomised double-blind trials of antipsychotic medication in adult patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia were investigated (last searc...

Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects 5% of children. In addition to pharmacotherapy, non-drug treatments such as appropriate parenting are also very important in the treatment of these children. Diagnosis and treatment of parents with psychiatric disorders and substance abuse and evaluation of the frequency of these disorders in parents is critical. Methods: In th...

The term ‘treatment-resistant schizophrenia’ is broadly used to describe people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia who do not respond adequately to antipsychotic treatment and continue to have residual symptoms and/or poor psychosocial functioning. Although treatment-resistant schizophrenia is a familiar concept, various definitions and criteria have been proposed over the years to define it as ...

Valeriana wallichii, an Indian medicinal plant, has been on trial for its role in stress disorders in hospital based clinical set-up. Hamilton’s Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) was used and thorough clinical investigations were carried out to screen the subjects. Thirty-three subjects (20 male and 13 female; average age 34.2 years) were medicated with the plant extract in a fixed dose reg...

Methods "Enforced clozapine" implied that if a patient refused oral clozapine they received intramuscular clozapine at half the expected oral dose. The case series involved 12 months follow-up. Baseline and monthly measures included the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Clinical Global Impressions (CGI), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), Insight and Treatment Attitudes Questionnaire ...

Objective: To investigate the association between aggression in the first 24 hours after admission and severity of psychopathology in psychiatric inpatients. Methods: This cross-sectional study included psychiatric patients admitted to Hospital Universitário de Santa Maria, in Santa Maria, southern Brazil, from August 2012 to January 2013. At their arrival at the hospital, patients were intervi...

Background: Whether marriage can cure mental illness has been a topic of discussion since many years. Marriage can impact on either way on a person’s life. Often, mental health professionals are faced with having to give advice regarding the marriage of a person suffering from bipolar disorder. There is a belief in the community that marriage is a solution to all the mental illness. Aim: To kno...