A review was made of the literature on Huntington’s disease, including the clinical neurology, recent advances in pathophysiology and genetic mechanisms and psychopathology. It can be concluded that research on the latter is scarce, although the subject is relevant because of the co-occurrence of psychiatric, neurological and genetic phenomena, which may lead to novel concepts in the understanding of brain function. So far, attempts to provide a comprehensive and pragmatic description of the psychopathology of Huntington’s disease have been disappointing, probably due to the limitations of the DSM classification system in this disorder. Future research should focus not only on this classification system, but also on neuropsychological functioning, because of the degenerative nature of the disease. Systematic and controlled studies should be performed on the treatment of psychiatric abnormalities in Huntington’s disease before any conclusions can be drawn.

We sought to establish if a brief psychoeducational intervention for relatives is effective in improving relatives’ knowledge about schizophrenia and reducing rehospitalization. We evaluated 101 relatives of 55 patients with schizophrenia before and after an 8-week psychoeducational group using a self-report method. We also conducted a matched case-control study of the effects on rehospitalisation for 28 of these patients. We calculated the number of hospital days for each index case and control in the 1 and 2 years before and after the intervention.

Relatives made significant gains in their knowledge about schizophrenia, particularly about medication. Patients whose relatives attended the group had significantly fewer days in hospital and days per admission compared to controls in the year after the programme but the effect waned in the second year after the intervention. Controls were almost four times more likely to be readmitted at 2 years than cases. Median time to readmission was significantly longer in cases compared to controls. We conclude that a psychoeducational group, which is valued by carers, is effective in increasing their knowledge about schizophrenia as well as reducing and forestalling the rehospitalization of their affected relatives. Such programmes deliver what carers frequently request in a cost-effective manner.

The stigmatisation of the psychiatric patient is still a strong barrier to the integration process of these subjects in our society. Therefore, it is necessary to identify what types of prejudices exist and the types of variables with which they are linked, in order to plan strategies to reduce them. In this exploratory study we administered a semi-structured interview to 303 subjects in order to examine the relationships between social attitudes towards mental disorders and some social demographic variables, the information about mental disorders and the previous ‘contacts’ with psychiatric patients.

The data analysis shows that there is a relationship between knowledge of psychiatric patients and a more positive attitude towards them (i.e., less fear, more integration and work opportunities). This study is to be considered preliminary as far as people’s attitudes towards psychiatric patients are concerned. This result encourages the planning and implementation of sensitisation and information programs concerning mental disorders, in the sense that increasing the knowledge of mental disorders could lead to significant achievements in the important fight against the stigma surrounding psychiatric patients.

Aggressive behaviour in psychiatric inpatients was assessed before and after a training course for staff members. The Social Dysfunction Aggression Scale (SDAS) was used to report and assess aggressive behaviour over time, and the Staff Observation Aggression Scale (SOAS) to report and assess single aggressive incidents. In addition, the numbers of nursing staff members who were on sick leave because of injuries in the periods before and after the course were recorded and compared. No statistically significant reduction was found in the number of aggressive patients or in the number of staff members on sick leave. One interesting finding was a lower reporting on the SOAS of perceived aggressive incidents after the training course in comparison with the SDAS reports. Directed verbal aggressiveness and violence towards things were found to be predictors of violence.

Currently the therapy of anorexia nervosa is a relevant clinical problem. The percentage of patients who respond to short-term pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy is still low and the condition often leads to chronic pathology or death. The present study aims to determine outcome predictors beyond personality traits, eating psychopathology, or particular clinical features.

Forty patients with restricter type anorexia nervosa were tested, at T0 and after 180 days, with psychometric tests and clinical evaluation instruments. Patients were then divided into two groups. One group included patients who showed relevant clinical improvement; the other included not-yet-improved patients.

A lower Novelty Seeking, higher levels of Ascetism and Maturity Fears characterised the not-yet-improved group. Correlation showed evidence of diverse bonds between personality and psychopathology in the improved and not-yet-improved groups. The psychopathology of non-yet-improved patients seemed to be more linked to their temperamental features, whereas improved patients seemed to be more influenced by their character. Different levels of psychological functioning can be expressed.

The present data suggest focusing pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, even family counseling, with a progression more strictly related to the current personality functioning level and psychopathology of each patient.

Study aim was 1) to find out the influences on quality of life (QoL) of chronic outpatients with schizophrenia; 2) to calculate Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY); and 3) to estimate direct 1-year treatment costs. In a 20% sample (100 males, 100 females) of schizophrenic outpatients from the Outpatients Clinic in Ljubljana, Slovenia receiving depot neuroleptics demographic, clinical, and treatment data were collected for the year 1996. The Krawiecka Scale, Global Assessment Scale (GAS), Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale, Rating Scale for Drug-Induced Akathisia, Rating Scale for Extrapyramidal Side Effects, Quality of Life Scale (QLS), EQ-5D and QALY were used. Multivariate linear regression was used with the QLS score as dependent variable. The patients were on average 44 years old and had been treated for 14 years. The average GAS score was 70. GAS was positively related to the QLS score while the parkinsonism score was inversely correlated with QLS. The patients can expect to live for 10. 20 more QALY on average. The QoL on the EQ-5D scale was 0.73. The annual direct treatment costs amounted to $216,216 in 1996 prices. In well-adjusted chronic patients with schizophrenia the QoL seems to depend mostly on their psychosocial performance and side effects. Although rare, rehospitalisations accounted for one-half of all treatment expenses.

A case is presented in which severe urinary retention (UR) occurred during an acute psychotic exacerbation of paranoid schizophrenia. The voiding dysfunction was apparent during continuous treatment with unchanged doses of haloperidol, and it completely resolved with the remission of the psychotic symptoms. A clear temporal correlation was evident between the patient’s mental status, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) score and the degree of the UR as assessed by quantitatively measuring the total daily postvoiding urine residues. We could not relate the UR to any apparent general medical condition or to the haloperidol treatment. The presented data suggests that UR in schizophrenic patients might be the end-result of various psychosis-related mechanisms.