RESUMEN
Perceptions about mental illness among medical practitioners are likely to determine their capacity to recognise, treat appropriately and refer patients who have mental health problems. It is therefore important that training of medical students in psychiatry is undertaken with knowledge of their attitudes to mental health disorders. We determined the perceptions of 108 pre-clinical medical students (69 males, 39 females; mean age 22 years) toward mental illness in Trinidad & Tobago by analysing their responses to a questionnaire based on a case vignette of a young man with a paranoid psychotic illness. 88felt that medical treatment in hospital was the best means of treating the illness and 86suggested that discharge should be conditional on regular visits to a doctor. 89however opposed the patient's marrying into their families and 85to his teaching their children. This was associated significantly with having a personal relationship with someone having a mental illness (p < 0.03). Surprisingly, 25believed that mental illness could be caused by supernatural forces, particularly females who were almost twice as likely as males to express this belief.
Asunto(s)
Humanos , Masculino , Femenino , Adulto , Actitud Frente a la Salud , Estudiantes de Medicina , Trastornos Mentales , Antipsicóticos/uso terapéutico , Alta del Paciente , Matrimonio , Enseñanza , Factores Sexuales , Hospitalización , Psiquiatría/educación , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Derivación y Consulta , Relaciones Interpersonales , Relaciones Médico-Paciente , Supersticiones , Trastornos Mentales/diagnóstico , Trastornos Mentales/etiología , Trastornos Mentales/terapia , Trastornos Paranoides/tratamiento farmacológico , Trinidad y TobagoRESUMEN
We present a case of a patient admitted to a psychiatric hospital with psychotic symptoms and cognitive impairment but who was subsequently found to have an anterior interhemispheric falx meningioma. There must be a high index of suspicion for organic brain disease in patients over age 45 years presenting with psychotic symptoms and seizures for the first time.
Asunto(s)
Humanos , Femenino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Errores Diagnósticos , Esquizofrenia/diagnóstico , Meningioma/diagnóstico , Neoplasias Meníngeas/diagnóstico , Demencia/diagnóstico , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Electroencefalografía , Escalas de Valoración Psiquiátrica , Lóbulo Frontal , Tomografía Computarizada por Rayos XRESUMEN
Two hundred and thirty-two psychiatric Outpatients on depor fluphenazine decanoate for more than six months were examined for Tardive Dyskinesia (TD), using the AIMS rating scale, and the prevalence rates of TD at different criteria of severity were asssessed. The prevalence rates ranged from 7% for patients with asevere TD to 45% for patients with any degree of TD. The sex distribution of patients with TD showed no bias but the female patients were significantly older than the male patients. Increases in prevalence rats of TD were associated with the combination of an anticholinergic anti-Parkinsonian drug with the depot neuroleptic, and with the concomitant use of an oral neuroleptic with the depot preparation. Implications of these finding for the long-term management of schizopherinia are discussed