Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
-
Delirium is common in all medical settings. Atypical antipsychotics are increasingly used for the management of delirium symptomatology but their effectiveness has not been systematically studied. The aim of the present study was therefore to provide an up-to-date review on the use of atypical antipsychotics in the treatment of delirium. ⋯ Atypical antipsychotics appear to be effective and safe in symptomatic treatment of delirium but the evidence is limited and inconclusive. There are no double-blind, placebo-controlled studies assessing the efficacy and safety of these agents in delirium. Further research is needed with well-designed studies.
-
Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci. · Oct 2009
ReviewDevelopment of DSM-V and ICD-11: tendencies and potential of new classifications in psychiatry at the current state of knowledge.
A reason for the necessity to revise ICD-10 and DSM-IV is the increase of knowledge in the past 20 years, especially neurobiological knowledge. But is this increase of knowledge, for example in the field of neurogenetics, of such magnitude that a revision of the psychiatric classification is necessary and promises to be fruitful? The current plans for DSM-V or ICD-11, respectively, focus on different improvements. In this context also the introduction of a purely syndromatic/dimensional approach without including etiopathogenetic hypotheses, is discussed. ⋯ Such a dimensional approach would also mean that the syndromes would have to be assessed in a standardized way for each person seeking help from the psychiatric service system or for each person undergoing psychiatric research. This would have to be a multi-dimensional assessment covering all syndromes existing within different psychiatric disorders. Based on the different aspects that must be considered in this context, a careful revision seems more advisable than a radical change of classification.