The Price of Demanding Peace: The Case of Academics for Peace in Turkey.

Escalation of violence resulted with more violence in 2015 in Turkey. Two hundred and sixty-eight officially confirmed round-the-clock (all day long) and/or open-ended curfews in 11 cities and at least 47 districts of Turkey have occurred. 1,809,000 residents, and the fundamental rights of these people have been explicitly violated. On January 11, 2016, 1,128 academics signed a petition and made a declaration. Immediately after the declaration witch hunt started. This report aims to display the case of Academics for Peace Petition.

[Lifetime prevalence and correlates of schizophrenia and disorders with psychotic symptoms in the general population of Izmir, Turkey]. / Izmir kent merkezinde sizofreni ve psikotik belirtili bozukluklarin yasamboyu yayginligi ve iliskili olduklari sosyodemografik özellikler.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the lifetime prevalence of 12 DSM-IV disorders with psychotic symptoms in a general population survey. METHOD: Addresses were contacted in a multistage clustered area probability sampling frame of administrative neighbourhoods and households, covering 9 districts and 302 neighbourhoods in the Izmir metropolitan area between November 2007 and October 2008. One household member aged between 15 and 64 years and available to complete the interview was randomly selected using a within-household sampling method. The primary screening instrument was the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 2.1. A systematic screening procedure was implemented to detect probable cases with any psychotic disorder. Those selected by the screens were re-interviewed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Diagnoses of individuals who were not available for re-interview were made by combining screening information with case register diagnoses and/or the telephone interviews with relatives or spouse. RESULTS: A total of 4011 individuals were screened for disorders with psychotic symptoms. After screening, 499 respondents were selected as a probable case. 277 of screen positive respondents were available for clinical reappraisal. Initial screening interviews and additional material were used for best estimate diagnoses of the remaining 172 respondents. Total lifetime prevalence of 12 DSM-IV disorders with psychotic symptoms was 2.62%. Lifetime prevalence of each disorder separately were as follows: 0.74% for schizophrenia, 0.20% for schizoaffective disorder, 0.05% for schizophreniform disorder, 0.10% for delusional disorder, 0.12% for brief psychotic disorder, 0.55% for major depressive disorder with psychotic features, 0.37% for bipolar I disorder, 0.20% for substance induced psychotic disorder, and 0.07% for psychotic disorders due to a general medical condition. CONCLUSION: Total lifetime prevalence of disorders with psychotic symptoms is higher than any previously reported estimates in Turkey; with a prevalence of approximately 2.5%, these disorders can be considered a major public health concern.

Izmir mental health survey for gene-environment interaction in psychoses (TürkSch): objectives and methodology.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the objectives and design of a multistage study on the prevalence and risk factors of mental health problems, in particular psychotic disorders and psychotic symptoms, by assessing a probabilistic sample of household residents in the Izmir Metropolitan Area, aged 15-64 years. METHOD: The study included three different observation frames. In the first stage, of which methodology is in the focus of this paper, the primary screening instrument was the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 2.1, which assesses lifetime and/or last one year occurrence of several DSM-IV disorders. Second, a parallel survey of social capital of administrative wards was conducted in the same neighbourhoods. Third, a nested-case control study was performed to study effects of genetic and environmental risk factors on wide psychosis phenotype. RESULTS: A total of 4011 males and females were contacted through a multistage clustered area probability sample of administrative neighbourhoods and households, covering 9 districts and 302 neighbourhoods. The response rate for the first stage was 76.5% in 5242 eligible households. Respondents were interviewed at home in 2008 for the screening of included mental health problems. The screened disorders were mood disorders (last 1 year), schizophrenia and other non-affective psychotic disorders (lifetime), and dependence and abuse of psychoactive substances (lifetime). CONCLUSION: Although cross-sectional in nature, the TürkSch has a unique study design and yields data of high quality. This enables study of the prevalence, risk and higher-order interactions underlying ill-health in the Turkish population, with a specific focus on psychosis.