Psychological medicine
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Psychological medicine · Feb 2002
Perceived need for mental health care: influences of diagnosis, demography and disability.
Recent major epidemiological studies have adopted increasingly multidimensional approaches to assessment. Several of these have included some assessment of perceived need for mental health care. The Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, conducted in 1997, included a particularly detailed examination of this construct, with an instrument with demonstrated reliability and validity. ⋯ The findings of this study underscore the imperative for mental health services to be attentive and responsive to consumer perceived need. The substantial majority of people who are significantly disabled by mental health problems are among those who see themselves as having such needs.
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Psychological medicine · Feb 2002
Categoric overgeneral autobiographical memory in adolescents with major depressive disorder.
Categoric, overgeneral autobiographical memory is more common in depressed adults than controls and predicts persistence of depression. This cross-sectional study investigated whether, compared with non-depressed psychiatric cases and community controls, first episode major depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescents is associated with categoric overgeneral memory retrieval. ⋯ In adolescents, increased categoric overgeneral memory is associated with, but not specific to first episode MDD. Positive categoric memories are also increased in fully remitted MDD as compared to controls.
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Psychological medicine · Oct 2001
Obsessive-compulsive disorder and separation anxiety co-morbidity in early onset panic disorder.
This study was undertaken to examine the relationship between anxiety co-morbidity and age of onset of panic disorder. ⋯ The association between anxiety co-morbidity and earlier onset of panic disorder is specific to obsessive-compulsive disorder and childhood separation anxiety disorder.
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Psychological medicine · Sep 2000
Are recent increases in deliberate self-harm associated with changes in socio-economic conditions? An ecological analysis of patterns of deliberate self-harm in bristol 1972-3 and 1995-6.
The incidence of deliberate self-harm (DSH) in Britain has increased markedly over the last 30 years. Reasons for this rise are not clear. We have investigated whether changes in the social and economic environment underlie any of the recent increase in DSH incidence. ⋯ This analysis suggests that changes in levels of socio-economic deprivation may influence area-specific patterns of DSH and such changes may have contributed to recent rises in DSH.
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Psychological medicine · Sep 2000
Detection of psychological distress by practice nurses in general practice.
The general practitioner (GP) has traditionally been the first port of call for people with psychiatric morbidity but increasingly other members of the primary care team see the patients first, particularly practice nurses. The numbers and roles of practice nurses have expanded greatly over the past decade and it is important that practice nurses are able to recognize patients with psychiatric morbidity. This paper reports a study to determine the abilities of 24 practice nurses to detect psychiatric morbidity in patients attending their clinics. ⋯ These results demonstrate that practice nurses' caseloads include a high proportion of patients with psychiatric morbidity and that agreement with the GHQ classification of psychiatric morbidity is modest. Therefore, training in detection will be crucial for the nurses.