Effect of therapeutic intervention on general health of child abused mothers

Background and Objective: Child abuse is a common phenomenon with variety of reasons; the most important one is mother psychiatric disorders. Concurrent interventions in the family can recover the mother and reduce child abuse. This study was done to evaluate the effect of therapeutic intervention on general health of child abused mothers

Methods: This clinical trial study was conducted on 57 children and their child abused mothers whom referred to child psychiatry and pediatric department of Imam Hossien hospital, Tehran, Iran during November 2009- April 2010. Children and their families were visited by a psychiatrist and depend on the child and the family after either pharmaceutical or psychological interventions was taken. Parent management training was done for all mothers in 8 weekly sessions. General health questionnaire were filled by mothers before intervention in the third and sixth months following the intervention

Results: Total score of general health, depression and anxiety of child abused mothers were 31.3 +/- 1.90, 5.26 +/- 0.66, 8.10 +/- 0.46, respectively. It was significantly increased after six months intervention in comparison with pre-intervention [37.3 +/- 2.34, 7.48 +/- 0.72, 10.44 +/- 0.58, respectively]

Conclusion: Appropriate therapeutic intervention and parent management training for mothers can improve general health of child abused mothers

[Reboxetine versus methylphenidate in the treatment of children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder]

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder [ADHD] is a prevalent disorder among children and stimulant remedies are the drugs of choice for its treatment. A substantial minority of stimulant-treated patient do not respond adequately or cannot tolerate the associate adverse effects and these difficulties highlight the need for alternative effective medications. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of reboxetine compared to that of methylphenidate in treatment of children and adolescents with ADHD. Thirty three children [7-16 years of age] diagnosed with ADHD, participated in a 6-week double-blind clinical trial with reboxetine [4-6mg/d] and methylphenidate [25-50mg/d]. The principal measure of the outcome was the Teacher and Parent ADHD Rating Scale. Patients were assessed by a child psychiatrist at baseline of treatment and 2, 4 and 6 weeks of medication, respectively. No significant differences were observed between two protocols of the parent and teacher ADHD rating scale scores and in terms of the dropouts and both groups showed a significant improvement in ADHD symptoms over the 6 weeks of treatment. The most common adverse effects seen with reboxetine were sedation/drowsiness and mild to sever decrease in appetite. Our finding must be considered preliminary, however, they do suggest that reboxetine may be beneficial in the treatment of ADHD. Further research is needed to clarify the potential benefit for comorbid depression and anxiety with ADHD and profile of side effects

[Validity of a Farsi translation of the composite international diagnostic interview [CIDI] to diagnose schizophrenia and bipolar disorder]

The Composite International Diagnostic Interview [CIDI] is a comprehensive, standardized diagnostic interview for the assessment of psychiatric disorders. There have been few studies on the validity of the CIDI. The objective of present study was to assess the validity of a Farsi translation of the complete CIDI and its psychosis/mania module in five referral clinical psychiatric settings. Two hundred and three as well as 104 consecutive admissions were interviewed using the complete and the psychosis/mania module, respectively. Within two days of the CIDI interview, two last year residents of psychiatry or psychiatrist who were blind to the CIDI diagnosis completed the Clinical diagnostic checklists [based on DSM-IV and ICD-10 criteria] simultaneously and reached the consensus diagnosis. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 11 to determine the validity of CIDI. The sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of schizophrenia was 0.12 and 0.96 using DSM-IV criteria. According to ICD-10 criteria, the results were the same with 0.19% sensitivity and 0.96% specificity. The sensitivity for the diagnosis of bipolar I disorder was low [0.21 using DSM-IV criteria and 0.17% using ICD-10] and specificity, high [0.90 compared to DSM-IV and 0.89 compared to ICD-10 criteria]. The results were rather similar for the psychosis/mania module of CIDI. This study suggests that the Farsi translation of both the complete CIDI and the psychosis/mania module of CIDI have good specificity, but poor sensitivity for the diagnosis of schizophrenia and of bipolar I disorder