Patients with schizophrenia have a higher prevalence of physical illness and a higher mortality from natural causes than the general population, which is a reason why they can be hospitalized for medical and surgical pathologies.

To determine the demand, the reason for consultation and the sociodemographic characteristics of the psychotic patient admitted at the general hospital.

Sociodemographic variables (age, sex, marital status, education, place of residence, residential housing, with who they live, work status) and health care (service of origin, type of request and its relevance, complaints, days of delay between the request and assistance, number of visits, average length of stay).

Prospective epidemiological study of 80 psychotic patients (F.2 ICD-10), from the total of 906 consults solicited from 1 January 2012 until 31 December 2014. Bioethical considerations: compliance with these principles justice, non-maleficence, autonomy and beneficence.

The average age is 58.34 years old, 60% were male, 73.8% single, 81.3% with primary education, 52.5% living in urban areas; and the 88.8% of cases were pensioners. The Departments that generate a greater demand are Internal Medicine (53.8%), Orthopaedic Surgery (10%), Pneumology (8.8%) and ICU (8.8%). The most frequent reasons for consultation are assessment/treatment setting (77.5%), abnormal behavior (30%), disorientation (18.8%) and psychotic symptoms (18.8%).

The typical profile of psychotic patients hospitalized for medical-surgical diseases is a male, middle-aged, single, with primary education and pensioner; from whom it's sued consultation for adjusting of treatment, and secondly for abnormal behavior.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Relation between psychology, psychiatry and cardiology are multidimensional and begin to have growing importance in the diagnosis and treatment of patients of cardiosurgery, electrocardiology and cardiac rehabilitation. Inappropriate sinus tachycardia (IST) is a rarely diagnosed clinical syndrome characterized by excessive resting heart rate (HR) or disproportional increasing HR during exercise. The mechanisms of IST are not well understood. It is speculated that psychological factors might be of importance.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate possible relation between the level of anxiety, personality traits and control of emotions, emotional intelligence, coping with stress strategies and manifestation of IST.

The participants were 23 women with a diagnosis of IST (age range 31.8 ± 8.72) and 23 women (28.7 ± 4.4) without cardiac diseases. The research applied psychological tools including: State–Trait Anxiety Inventory, NEO-Five Factor Inventory, Courtauld Emotional Control Scale, Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations and an originally developed sociodemographic questionnaire.

It has been found that that the group of women with IST received higher results in Trait Anxiety Inventory compared to the group of healthy women and the relation was highly statistically significant (P = 0,009). No other differences were found.

Inappropriate sinus tachycardia can be considered as an anxiety related disorder. However, its pathogenesis and classification position remains elusive.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

When the heart is in danger – as is true during a myocardial infarction (MI) – this is life-threatening and as such can provoke specific fear: so-called cardiac anxiety. Both general anxiety and depression are associated with cardiac prognosis in MI-patients. However, as most treatment studies have not shown beneficial effects on cardiac prognosis, the need to examine specific aspects of anxiety and depression post-MI has been advocated.

We examined whether cardiac anxiety can be reliably assessed with the Cardiac Anxiety Questionnaire (CAQ) in 237 hospitalized MI-patients. Cross-sectional associations were explored, as well as possible trajectories of cardiac anxiety in the year post-MI (by latent class-analysis) and its association with quality of life. Finally, the prognostic association of cardiac anxiety with major adverse cardiac events (MACE) including all-cause mortality was examined with cox-regression-survival analysis.

The CAQ is a valid and reliable instrument in MI-patients and assessed fear, attention, avoidance of physical exercise, and safety-seeking behavior. Higher cardiac anxiety was associated with more psychological distress but lower severity in cardiac injury. In the year post-MI four cardiac anxiety trajectories were identified; higher cardiac anxiety was associated with worse quality of life. CAQ score significantly predicted MACE in a five-year-follow-up period, even after adjustment for age, cardiac disease severity and depressive symptoms (HRbaseline: 1.60 [95% CI: 1.05–2.45], P = 0.029; HR3-months: 1.71 [0.99–2.59]; P = 0.054).

Cardiac anxiety is an important and potentially modifiable factor in the treatment of MI-patients: it is prevalent and associated with quality of life and cardiac prognosis.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Self-stigma plays a powerful role in attitudes toward mental illness and seeking psychological services. Assessing stigma from the perspective of people with mood disorders is important as they were ranked as major causes of disability.

To determine the extent and the impact of stigma experience in Saudi patients with mood disorder and compare them between depression and bipolar disorder patients. To test if stigma is a universal experience and has similar psychosocial impact across cultures.

It's a part of multicenter international study comparing its results to the universal experiences inthe perspectives of individuals with mood disorder.

We randomly interviewed 94 individuals with mood disorder at King Khalid University Hospital using valid reliable tool, Inventory of Stigmatizing Experiences (ISE), which has two components: Stigma Experiences Scale (SES) and Stigma Impact Scale (SIS).

ISE was validated in a population of Saudi patients with mood disorder. There were no significant differences in stigma between patients with bipolar or depressive disorder on SES or SIS. However, over 50% of all respondents tried to hide their mental illness from the others, and to avoid situations that might lead them to be stigmatized. In comparison with the Canadian population, Saudi participants scored lower on both SES and SIS, which may be due to cultural differences.

Stigma associated with mood disorder is serious and pervasive. It's important first to understand how patients perceive stigma in order to conduct successful anti-stigma programs. The ISE is a highly reliable instrument among cultures.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Social skills training (SST) is an element of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which focuses to improve verbal-nonverbal behaviors involved in social interactions.

To assess the effectiveness of a standardised 8–sessions-SST-group therapy (Hinsch&Pfingsten) in Türkish Immigrants who have anxiety/depressive disorders.

German-Turkish transations-backtranslations of contents and materials of the standardised 8–sessions-SST-group therapy were performed. These weekly eight group sessions applied by two Turkish-psychotherapists to 8 voluntary Turkish-Immigrants (F/M = 4/4, age = 50 ± 5.4), who were in treatment for anxiety/depressive disorders in our transcultural outpatient-clinic in Hannover, Germany. Symtom-Checklist-90 (SCL-90) and Insecurity Questionnaire (I-Q) administered before and after the treatment programm. Seven patients completed pre-post scales.

Table 1 presents the scale scores. There was no significant improvement in global-symptom-severity and insecurity-profiles after the SST. One of the psychotherapists and one of the patients were interviewed to discuss qualitatively possible reasons of that.

I think patients were not comfortable with many pencil-paper homeworks. Daily-life-examples were too close to German culture. Therefore it's crucial to culturally modify the sessions.

I found the sessions-homeworks strict and different from my thinking style and culture.

Qualitative data of this study stated that no improvement may be caused by eurocentristic nature of the psychotherapeutic approach. Berry (2006) suggested that such interventions may generate/exacerbate acculturative-stress and may not be beneficial for the patient. Further studies should investigate effectiveness of culturally-modified SST in Turkish immigrants.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Transnationalism provides a serious challenge in mental health care, especially due to the crucial role of communication. Emergency room interactions offer an opportunity to analyze the role of cultural competency among providers and how they relate to immigrants in the clinical encounter.

This study addresses three aims: to assess the level of provider-perceived accuracy of diagnoses; to evaluate the use of restraints; and to compare diagnoses rates between patients of diverse racial/ethnic groups.

We examined patients’ race/ethnicity and their relation to service use and perceived certainty of mental health diagnoses. Three hundred and forty-seven migrants and 67 natives as well as their providers were interviewed in psychiatry emergency rooms in Barcelona (Spain).

The perceived certainty of clinical diagnosis is lower for Asians (OR = 0.2, 95% CI [0.07–0.63]), and higher when the clinician feels comfortable with the patient (OR = 5.41, 95% CI [2.53–11.58]). The probability of restraints is higher for Maghreb patients compared to native born (OR = 3.56, 95% CI [1.03–12.26]). The probability of compulsory admission is lower for Latinos compared to native born (OR = 0.26, 95% CI [0.08–0.88]). The probability of receiving a diagnosis of psychosis is lower when the clinician can communicate in the patient's language (OR = 0.37, CI 95% [0.16–0.83]).

Cultural factors such as level of comfort and communication in the patient's language play a central role in diagnosis and treatment. This study highlights the importance of culture in psychiatric diagnosis and the role of cultural competency for mental health providers.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Secondary school students in Nigeria are under intense pressure to perform well in their academics so as to have competitive advantage in advancing their studies. This pressure has been linked to western derived psycho-pathologies such as depression, anxiety and culture bound syndrome such as brain fag syndrome.

To examine gender differences in the manifestation of brain-fag syndrome, depression, and anxieties among students about to participate in Junior Secondary Certificate Examination (JSCE) and West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in Nigeria.

Two hundred and nine (209) students (X age = 14.27, SD = 2.18) were administered a battery of tests comprising of the Brain Fag Syndrome Scale, Brain Fag Propensity Scale, State Trait Anxiety Inventory, Patient Health Questionnaire, Mathematics Anxiety Inventory and Test Anxiety Inventory. The data was subjected to a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).

The result showed no significant gender differences in the manifestation of brain-fag syndrome, depression, and anxieties, F (6, 202) = 0.947, P ≥ 0.01; Pillai's Trace = 0.03, partial η2 = 0.02. In consonance with earlier studies, males reported higher brain fag mean scores than female participants (X = 5.46, SD = 2.06; X = 4.88, SD = 2.43).

The study has shown that adolescents who are about to take their final examinations manifest brain fag propensity and go on to manifest symptoms of the brain fag syndrome. But, there is no significant gender difference in the manifestation of brain fag syndrome among males and females.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The modern Swedish crime drama series Wallander by Henning Mankell presents a good portrayal of mental health issues in 21st century post modern world, including the contribution of biological, psychological and social issues in predisposing, perpetuating and maintaining them.

The aim of the exploratory synthesis is to study the characters in Wallander focusing on the portrayal of their mental health with a view on formulating biological, psychological and social factors that play a role in their development. Furthermore, mental health is reviewed in first world culture acclimatizing itself to the themes emerging from post-modern globalised world.

The episodes of Wallander (Swedish Version) are reviewed focusing on the characters and the plots for each episode matching them with mental health diagnoses offered in International classification of diseases.

The results are collated and a general commentary is offered on the observations and motifs revealed in the portrayal. The focus will be on individual character formulations (both recurring main characters as well other side characters). In addition, there is a commentary on contributing to mental health problems in a post-modern industrial society.

The author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.

Religion/spirituality and medicine have been related in one way or another sense the beginning of our know History. Patients’ beliefs, values and practices influence the way disease is perceived and managed. In order to provide adequate care the physician must have proper knowledge of the patients’ spiritual/religious context, otherwise it may fall prey to errors of diagnostic, inappropriate management and subsequent poor compliance.

To present the case of an adult male (a preacher whose beliefs include mediunity) with delusional ideation of mystical content and mood elation, identified during a religious ceremony.

Questioning the frontier between spiritual/religious beliefs and psychopathology.

A case report is presented and a literature review of the theme is shortly surveyed.

The case reports to a 53 years old man, who during a religious ceremony presented himself with agitation and disinhibition, removing all his cloths and living the church naked. Additionally it was identified the presence of insomnia, heteroaggressiveness, accelerated speech, mood elation and delusional ideation of mystical and megalomaniac content. Several studies demonstrate the importance of acknowledging the religious/spiritual beliefs of patients. This knowledge allows the psychiatry to correctly identify the existing psychopathology and organize an appropriate intervention plan for the patient.

Spiritual and religious beliefs’ influence the way disease is perceiver and managed. Physician should collect a brief spiritual story of the patient and learn about the different religious/spiritual beliefs and practices of their community, in order to understand the full dimension of the individual illness.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Apotemnophilia or body integrity identity disorder (BIID) is defined by the uncontrollable desire to amputate one or more healthy limbs or to be paraplegic.

We reviewed the available studies of this condition in order to enhance the comprehension of this disorder and the possible need of a multidisciplinary assessment.

Relevant papers from 2000 were identified using PubMed database, with the terms apotemnophilia, BIID and self-demand amputation.

Reports of the phenomenon of amputee attraction trace back to 1933 in a series of letters and articles published in journals and magazines by erotically-obsessed persons who wanted to become amputees themselves. The first scientific report of this issue only appeared in 1977, when John Money described two cases that requested an amputation of a healthy limb, a condition he named apotemnophilia. Would-be amputees – or “wannabes” – may appear in thousands and they have their own websites. Until now, the explanation of this phenomenon has been in favor of a psychiatric etiology: a pathological desire driven by a sexual compulsion. Recently, a neurological explanation has been proposed and defends that might exist a dysfunction of the right parietal lobe, leading to a distorted body image and a desire for an amputation.

Apotemnophilia is a rare, uncommonly studied condition, which blurs the limits between psychiatry and neurology. We must be aware that this disorder is more frequent in unusual places like websites and others. A better understanding of this condition is crucial for the development of effective treatment.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Analysis from cultural products has been previously reported in psychiatry field. This approach provides an understanding of the social imaginary about psychiatry and its work over a determined period of time.

To describe the representations of ECT and insanity in an Spanish underground comic of the early 80s.

We performed an analysis of complete production (1979–1994) of “Makoki”, comic by Gallardo and Mediavilla, looking for the aspects related with our interest scope (Fig. 1).

The comic analyzed is inscribed in the field of provocation and insolence. This is comprehensible in the historical context of Spanish transition, if we attend to almost forty years of cultural confinement as a result of a dictatorial regime. This cultural product could be seen as “politically incorrect” from the current perspective, given that reproduces some stigmatizing topics regarding mental illness, glorifying its alleged associations with violence and drug use, in addition to a negative view of ECT, represented as a sadistic instrument of punishment, control and subjugation (see Fig. 1).

The material analyzed reproduces the prevailing social stigma in its epoch about psychiatry and mental illness. The analysis of cultural products that reflect and built the speeches about the psychiatry and its action field, can be a useful strategy to understand the views of the general population in a given era.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

As the psychopathological constructs have been influenced by scientific and cultural paradigms of its time, culture reflects and determines the way of understanding health and disease. The knowledge generated is integrated to the cultural wealth and it continues its development by interacting with culture, thus the ideas of mental illness and its treatment vary according to culture and beliefs of a given population in a given time.

To propose a framework for analysis through the examination of cultural products. We argue that this strategy can give us some clues about how the general population understands mental illness and the psychiatric work.

A review of the literature available about social representations of science, medicine, illness and psychiatry, through cultural products analysis.

There are many works that address the presence of these issues in the social imaginary by analyzing cultural products. In the field of psychiatry, the analysis of films, literature and music (the last, in a lesser extent) are the most frequent.

The analysis of cultural products can be a source of additional knowledge that connects us with the social representations of our profession and its scope of practice, favoring a better understanding about what psychiatry and mental illness means for our patients and general population.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

This research aims at examining the relationship between anxiety, depression, and hopelessness among nonclinical Kuwaiti sample using Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression, and hopelessness inventories.

highlighting the relationship between anxiety, depression, and hopelessness among nonclinical sample of females and males and the common factor/s.

The participants were 616 (308 females & 308 males), Kuwait University students. The two genders were matched in age (18.15 ± 0.36 & 18.18 ± 0.38, t = 0.94, P > .05) and BMI (24.12 ± 3.27 & 23.50 ± 4.85, t = 0.54, P > 0.5). The Arabic versions of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), and demographic surveys were administered to participants during classes. All participants read and signed a consent form before participating. The correlation matrices, exploratory factor analysis, and reliability analysis are used in this study.

Internal consistency of scores were satisfactory for the BAI, BDI-II, & BHS inventories respectively (Cronbach's alpha (M) = 0.88, 0.75, 0.74 & (F) = 0.89, 0.84, 0.88). A correlation of (r = 0.53) between the BAI and BDI-II and (r = 0.43) with BHS. Meanwhile a correlation of (r = 0.58) between BDI-II & BHS. A principal-axis factor analysis with oblique rotation suggested one factor accounting for 67.73% of the common variance.

The results indicate that there is a strong relationship between anxiety, depression and hopelessness. This highlights the important of examining common factors between anxiety, depression and hopelessness among nonclinical sample.

The author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Depressive and anxiety disorders are common among working adults and costly to employers and individuals and their prevalence is high. Public sector employees are also vulnerable to poor mental health, mainly where have been occurring organisational changes similar to private sector concepts.

To highlight the unmet mental needs for new vulnerable working population, government employees.

The search was conducted using PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, Scopus, B-on, Science Direct with the terms “government employees”, “federal employees”, “depressive disorders”, “anxiety disorders”. Using the PRISMA methodology, 1374 articles were considered with the search terms and if were published in the last 10 years; after a review of the title and summary, 5 eligible studies in english were included.

Mental disorders are growing public health problem, and creating an enormous toll of suffering, disability and economic loss. There are few studies about depressive and anxiety disorders in public sector and those confirm that it would be to examine to what extent national characteristics can explain why individual and organizational characteristics are more related to them in some countries than in others, especially not including military or police officers who usually are submitted to high psychological distress.

Workplace health promotion in addressing job stress is crucial to fight against to a range of mental health outcomes. Mental health screening in the public sector may contribute for changes to the traditional roles of government and its management structures and must be encouraged to find out the underlying mechanisms of developing depressive and anxiety disorders.

The author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Major depressive disorder is one of the most prevalent psychiatric illnesses in the world affecting more than 12% of men and more than 21% of women in their lifetime. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are worldwide prescribed to treat depression. SSRIs drugs can cause drug-induced liver injury (DILI).

The aim of the study was to evaluate the liver function in patients treated with SSRI in order to detect DILI.

All the patients with first major depressive episode treated with the same SSRI antidepressant for at least 3 months between September 2013 and September 2015 were entered into the study. The hepatic function panel included aminotransferases, total and direct bilirubin, albumin, total protein, gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT), LDH cholesterol, hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV).

Of 134 subjects with MDD according to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) who met inclusion criteria, 98 patients entered into study. Seventy-seven (76.5%) were treated with SSRI for at least 3 months with mean age were 45.4 (SD = 6.3), 65 women (66.3%). Five patients (5.1%) were newly diagnosed with hepatitis, and 10 (10.2%) presented elevated values of ALT, AST. The mean duration of depressive symptoms was 9.2 months (SD = 6.9).

The treatment with SSRI seems to be effective and safe in our sample. A relative small number of patients with MDD were diagnosed with viral hepatitis during this cross-sectional study. Further randomized and controlled trials are needed.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.