Influence of aeroionotherapy on some psychiatric symptoms

Negative aeroionotherapy (daily 15–50 min sittings, for 10–30 days) was applied in 112 patients with various psychiatric disorders, especially neuroses, with the aim of ameliorating certain symptoms (target symptoms).Corona and water air ion generators, as well as electro-aerosol generators, were used.The aeroionization (small air ion concentration), at the patient's respiration level, was moderate: n^–=10,000 – 15,000/ml air; n⁺s1,000/ml air; q=n⁺/n^–0.1.In most treated patients a diminution or even the disappearance of the target symptoms was obtained. Those obviously ameliorated under the influence of aeroionotherapy were: asthenia, depressive reactions, anxiety, irascibility, cephalea, insomnia, and general indisposition.     

Neuroimaging of psychiatric and pedopsychiatric disorders

Over the last two decades, imaging techniques have allowed to establish the cerebral neurophysiologic correlates of psychiatric disorders and have highlighted the impact of psychopathologic events, therapeutic drugs, addictions, on the growth and plasticity of brain. In this review, we intend to illustrate how neuroimaging has improved our knowledge of such alterations in brain maturation (schizophrenia, autistic disorders), fronto-limbic (depressive syndromes) or fronto-striatal (compulsive disorders) regions in psychiatric illnesses, but also in psychopharmacology, or pedopsychiatry. Statistically significant alterations in the structure and/or function of brain are detected in all psychiatric disorders and these are often detectable already during childhood or teenage. Furthermore, neuroimaging has allowed to underline the importance of cerebral networks specific to each disorder, but also to uncover those which are common to different diseases provided that they share common clinical or cognitive features. Besides their value in basic research, neuroimaging findings have been key in changing the perception that society has of these diseases which contributed to their therapeutic approach.     

Physiological regulation-deregulation and psychiatric disorders

This article discusses regulation-deregulation theory, a theory that integrates both old and new concepts to explain behavior-physiology interactions and changes in psychiatric disorder probability. The theory postulates: that specific types and frequencies of social interactions are essential to maintain normal physiological function; when essential interactions fail to occur, atypical physiological states (deregulation) develop; and deregulation is associated with the presence of unpleasant feelings and an increase in the frequency of psychiatric disorders. Implications of the theory are that certain types of social interactions are critical proximate mechanisms in determining the onset of psychiatric disorders, and that social interaction type and frequency, through affecting different physiological systems, alter the course of psychiatric disorders.     

Definitions and diagnoses: Cultural implications of psychiatric help-seeking and psychiatrists' definitions of the situation in psychiatric emergencies

This paper explores lay and psychiatric actors' definitions of mental illness by focusing on several aspects of emergency psychiatric diagnosis. First, it considers psychiatric diagnosis as a social and cultural process in which mental illnesses are defined with increasing specificity as individuals move from lay to psychiatric contexts. Second, the paper considers variation in psychiatric residents' conceptions of mental illness, their role in emergency contexts, and lastly, their diagnostic styles. Diagnostic styles are shown to exist and to be grounded in residents' definitions of the situation. It is suggested that the variation in psychiatrists' definitions of the psychiatric situation, especially as regards etiology, plays a prominent, but as yet unnoted, role in producing variability in psychiatric diagnosis. It is also argued that actors' definitions are cultural, grounded in non-professional. lay ideology, and are not products of secondary professional socialization.     

Genetics and genomics of behavioral and psychiatric disorders

Psychiatric conditions are to some degree under genetic influences. Despite the application of advanced genetic and molecular biological technologies, the genetic bases of the human behavioral traits and psychiatric diseases remains largely unresolved. Conventional genetic linkage approaches have not yielded definitive results, possibly because of the absence of objective diagnostic tests, the complex nature of human behavior or the incomplete penetrance of psychiatric traits. However, recent studies have revealed some genes of interest using multifaceted approaches to overcome these challenges. The approaches include using families in which specific behaviors segregate as a mendelian trait, utilization of endophenotypes as biological intermediate traits, identification of psychiatric disease phenotypes in genomic disorders, and the establishment of mouse models.     

Psychological and psychiatric issues in space

Based on anecdotal reports from space and studies of space analog environments on Earth, a number of psychosocial and psychiatric issues have been identified that can lead to problems in space. We studied several of these issues during a series of Shuttle/Mir missions. We found support for decrements in commander support during the 2nd half of the missions and a novelty effect in U.S. astronauts at the beginning. Displacement of unpleasant emotions to outside individuals was found in both crewmember and mission control subjects. Americans were less happy with their work environment than Russians, and mission control personnel were more dysphoric than crewmembers. The subjects considered problems on-board the Mir to be major critical events. We found no evidence for the occurrence of asthenia during the missions, although our measure did not evaluate all of the features of this syndrome.     

Low self-esteem and psychiatric patients: Part I - The relationship between low self-esteem and psychiatric diagnosis

BACKGROUND: The objective of the current study was to determine the prevalence and the degree of lowered self-esteem across the spectrum of psychiatric disorders. METHOD: The present study was carried out on a consecutive sample of 1,190 individuals attending an open-access psychiatric outpatient clinic. There were 957 psychiatric patients, 182 cases with conditions not attributable to a mental disorder, and 51 control subjects. Patients were diagnosed according to DSM III-R diagnostic criteria following detailed assessments. At screening, individuals completed two questionnaires to measure self-esteem, the Rosenberg self-esteem scale and the Janis and Field Social Adequacy scale. Statistical analyses were performed on the scores of the two self-esteem scales. RESULTS: The results of the present study demonstrate that all psychiatric patients suffer some degree of lowered self-esteem. Furthermore, the degree to which self-esteem was lowered differed among various diagnostic groups. Self-esteem was lowest in patients with major depressive disorder, eating disorders, and substance abuse. Also, there is evidence of cumulative effects of psychiatric disorders on self-esteem. Patients who had comorbid diagnoses, particularly when one of the diagnoses was depressive disorders, tended to show lower self-esteem. CONCLUSIONS: Based on both the previous literature, and the results from the current study, we propose that there is a vicious cycle between low self-esteem and onset of psychiatric disorders. Thus, low self-esteem increases the susceptibility for development of psychiatric disorders, and the presence of a psychiatric disorder, in turn, lowers self-esteem. Our findings suggest that this effect is more pronounced with certain psychiatric disorders, such as major depression and eating disorders.