Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology
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Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol · Mar 2014
ReviewPosttraumatic stress disorder and symptoms among American Indians and Alaska Natives: a review of the literature.
American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) experience high rates of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We reviewed existing literature to address three interrelated questions: (1) What is the prevalence of PTSD and PTSD symptoms among AI/ANs? (2) What are the inciting events, risk factors, and co-morbidities in AI/ANs, and do they differ from those in the general U.S. population? (3) Are studies available to inform clinicians about the course and treatment of PTSD in this population? ⋯ Substantial research indicates a strikingly high incidence of PTSD in AI/AN populations. However, inciting events, risk factors, and co-morbidities in AI/ANs, and how they may differ from those in the general population, are poorly understood. Very few studies are available on the clinical course and treatment of PTSD in this vulnerable population.
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Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol · Feb 2014
Pattern of experienced and anticipated discrimination among people with depression in Nigeria: a cross-sectional study.
Stigma is commonly encountered by individuals with mental illness and leads to discrimination. These phenomena restrict access to and use of mental health care services. This study evaluated the impact of stigma and discrimination among individuals with major depression in Nigeria. ⋯ Important suggestions may be derived for clinicians, caregivers, and policy makers to appreciate the role of stigma in the burden, treatment, and rehabilitation of individuals with depression, especially for younger people with higher level of education.
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Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol · Jan 2014
Psychotherapy for depression in primary care: a panel survey of general practitioners' opinion and prescribing practice.
Psychotherapy is recommended as first-line treatment in patients presenting with mild-to-moderate depression. Although this disorder is mostly managed in primary care, little is known about General Practitioners' (GPs) practice of prescribing psychotherapy. The objectives were to explore GPs' opinion on psychotherapy for depression, and the personal and professional characteristics associated with reported strategies for prescribing psychological therapy and/or an antidepressant in mild-to-moderate depression. ⋯ GPs' personal experience has a greater impact on psychological therapy prescription than professional characteristics. This finding suggests that educational efforts are required for providing GPs decision-making skills regarding psychological therapy prescription, based upon evidence-based medicine rather than subjective factors.
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Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol · Dec 2013
Social support and physical activity as moderators of life stress in predicting baseline depression and change in depression over time in the Women's Health Initiative.
To determine whether social support and/or physical activity buffer the association between stressors and increasing risk of depression symptoms at baseline and at 3-year follow-up. ⋯ Stressors, social support, and physical activity showed predicted main effect associations with depression. Multiplicative interactions were small in magnitude and in the opposite direction of what was expected.
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Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol · Dec 2013
American parents' willingness to prescribe psychoactive drugs to children: a test of cultural mediators.
In the USA, white children receive psychoactive drugs more often than black or Hispanic children. This study investigates whether cultural attitudes statistically mediate differences between American parents' self-identified racial-ethnic group membership and their willingness to medicate children for behavioral problems. ⋯ These findings provide faint support for a parent-centered cultural explanation of reported prescription differences among youths of different racial-ethnic groups in the USA. However, structural and professional components of a broader cultural hypothesis for such differences, within the USA and between different countries, still require evaluation.