Psychiatric Considerations on Pediatric Psychosomatic Disorders with Gastrointestinal Symptoms / 대한소아소화기영양학회지

Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms in children and adolescents are influenced by diverse psychiatric components such as psychosocial stresses, familial environment, school-related situations, and comorbid psychiatric conditions. Absolutely psychiatric symptoms of pediatric patients are also affected by problems of GI system. Lots of symptoms including anorexia, dyspepsia, nausea and so on are commonly originated from either GI or psychiatric causes or both. Sometimes the negative interactions between GI and psychiatric problems aggravate the severity and eventually decline the functions of children and adolescents with GI symptoms. We summarized the common GI and psychiatric conditions which have GI and psychiatric associations. To a clinician who manages pediatric GI disorders, psychiatric considerations can be beneficial to understand the clinical manifestations of patients and to find the way to relieve them. This short and somewhat superficial review may help to have a bird's-eye view on this topic.

Pharmacotherapy in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Field: Atypical Antipsychotics

Although the scientific evidence is not entirely supportive, atypical antipsychotics have been used widely for the treatment of children and adolescents with mental illnesses as alternatives to typical antipsychotics which have more serious unwanted adverse effects than atypical neuroleptics. On the basis of clinical experiences and research data, atypical antipsychotics have been prescribed for adolescents with schizophrenia, manic or mixed episodes of bipolar disorders, tic disorders, aberrant behaviors in pervasive developmental disorders, and impulsive or violent behaviors in disruptive behavior disorders. Due to their efficacy and relatively more tolerable side effects, the use of atypical antipsychotics has become increasingly popular in child and adolescent psychiatry. However, we should pay attention to the limitations associated with short-term clinical experiences and the lack of well-designed controlled studies, especially in terms of adverse effects including those involving metabolic processes.

Nocturanl Eating Behavior Associated with Zolpidem / 수면정신생리

OBJECTIVE: The authors would like to fine the relationship between zolpidem and nocturnal eating episodes in diverse psychiatric patients. METHOD: We evaluated case series of 6 patients who showed nocturnal eating episodes after takine zolpidem. RESULTS: We have experienced 6 cases who showed nocturnal eating behavior after taking zolpidem. They included 3 patients with schizoprenia, a patient with major depressive disorder, a patient with PTSD and a patient with bipolra I disorder. With reducing or discontiuation of of zolpidem, their nocturnal eating resolved. CONCLUSION: This finding strongly suggests the relationship between zolpidem and the nocturnal eating episode. Physicians should be aware that zolpidem might induce nocturnal eating behaviors.