The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences
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Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been used to treat the psychiatric complications of Parkinson's disease. Concurrent improvement of parkinsonian motor symptoms has been noted. This retrospective study compared the outcomes of 25 patients with parkinsonism receiving ECT for psychiatric indications with outcomes of 25 patients (matched for age and gender) without neurological disease also receiving ECT for psychiatric indications. ⋯ No differences in efficacy of ECT were found between the two groups. Fourteen of the 25 patients with Parkinson's symptoms were noted to have at least transient improvement in motor function at discharge. ECT is an effective treatment for patients with parkinsonism and psychiatric comorbidity.
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Aggressive behavior is difficult to capture with most available rating instruments because it occurs with low frequency. The Overt Aggression Scale (OAS) was designed to capture all incidents on a 24-hour basis. ⋯ OAS ratings capture episodes of aggressive behavior, measure trends in aggressive behavior over time, and appear to reflect change associated with pharmacotherapy in hospitalized children. This study suggests that the use of the OAS on a children's psychiatric inpatient unit is appropriate and feasible for clinical as well as research purposes.
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J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci · Jan 1994
Comparative StudyThe Delirium Rating Scale in a psychogeriatric inpatient setting.
The Delirium Rating Scale (DRS) has been shown to be a valid instrument for identifying and grading the severity of delirium in patients admitted to a general hospital for medical or surgical treatment. However, its accuracy in identifying delirium among elderly patients admitted to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation and treatment of psychiatric illness has not been previously addressed. ⋯ A DRS threshold score of > or = 10 correctly identified delirious patients with a sensitivity of 94% and a specificity of 82%. Both psychosis and cognitive impairment appeared to falsely elevate the DRS score in this population.