The American journal of psychiatry
-
Letter Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Efficacy of medium-dose clozapine for treatment-resistant schizophrenia.
-
In preparing for the publication of ICD-10, the Division of Mental Health of the World Health Organization developed several versions of chapter V, which deals with mental and behavioral disorders. The version for research purposes is called the Diagnostic Criteria for Research (ICD-10 DCR) and gives operational criteria for the diagnosis of mental disorders. This article describes the results of international field trials undertaken to evaluate the draft criteria and refine them further. ⋯ The use of internationally accepted research criteria enhances the reliability of diagnosis of mental disorders made in research settings worldwide.
-
Comparative Study
Psychiatric disorders and functional disability in outpatients with traumatic brain injuries.
This study examined psychiatric sequelae of traumatic brain injuries in outpatients and their relation to functional disability. ⋯ Depression and anxiety are common in outpatients with traumatic brain injuries. Patients with depression or anxiety are more functionally disabled and perceive their injury and cognitive impairment as more severe. Depressed patients report more increasingly severe postconcussion symptoms.
-
Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide have become prominent medical and social issues. This study investigated the prevalence of the desire for death in terminally ill patients, the stability of this desire over time, and its association with psychiatric disorders. ⋯ The desire for death in terminally ill patients is closely associated with clinical depression--a potentially treatable condition--and can also decrease over time. Informed debate about euthanasia should recognize the importance of psychiatric considerations, as well as the inherent transience of many patients' expressed desire to die.