High levels of anxiety and depression have a negative effect on quality of life of women with chronic pelvic pain.

BACKGROUND: Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a common and complex disease whose cause is often clinically inexplicable, with consequent difficulty in diagnosis and treatment. Patients with CPP have high levels of anxiety and depression, with a consequent impairment of their quality of life. AIMS: The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of anxiety and depression and their impact on the quality of life of women with CPP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional controlled study was conducted on 52 patients with CPP and 54 women without pain. Depression and anxiety were evaluated by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and quality of life was evaluated by the World Health Organization Quality of life Whoqol-bref questionnaire. Data were analysed statistically by the Mann-Whitney U-test, the Fisher exact test, chi-square test and Spearman correlation test. RESULTS: The prevalence of anxiety was 73% and 37% in the CPP and control groups, respectively, and the prevalence of depression was 40% and 30% respectively. Significant differences between groups were observed in the physical, psychological and social domains. Patients with higher anxiety and depression scores present lower quality of life scores. DISCUSSION: The fact that DPC is a syndromic complex, many patients enter a chronic cycle of search for improvement of medical symptoms. The constant presence of pain may be responsible for affective changes in dynamics, family, social and sexual. Initially the person is facing the loss of a healthy body and active, to a state of dependence and limitations. In this study, patients with higher scores of anxiety and depression scores had lower quality of life and patients with lower scores of anxiety and depression had scores of quality of life. These results show that perhaps the depression and anxiety may be related to the negative impact on quality of life of these patients. CONCLUSION: In view of this association, we emphasise the importance of a specific approach to the treatment of anxiety and depression together with clinical treatment to improve the quality of life of these patients.

Observaciones sobre el universo sicosocial de los niños de calle / Observations on the psychosocial universe of the children of the street

Se analizan y discuten algunos aspectos de la estructura sicosocial de los niños de calle de Sao Paulo, Brasil. El estudio se realizó con entrevistas grabadas a 100 de estos niños, donde se pudieron observar, las especificidades de comportamiento y organización social desde la perspectiva de los propios niños. Palabras clave: Niños de la calle, sicología, sociedad.

The utility of the Psychosomatic Symptom Checklist among hospitalized patients.

We examined the utility of the Psychosomatic Symptom Checklist in an inpatient medical setting with particular emphasis on the putative ability of the PSC to discriminate psychosomatic from nonpsychosomatic patients. First, 80 hospitalized psychosomatic patients were compared to 80 hospitalized medical patients on the PSC. Second, a sample of 187 psychosomatic patients was studied to examine the relationship among psychosomatic distress, depression, and functional impairment. The results indicate that while psychosomatic patients scored significantly higher than comparable medical patients on the PSC, discriminant analyses indicate that the PSC is not able to identify psychosomatic patients in an inpatient medical setting. Factor analyses and correlations show that the PSC is positively related to increased depression and decreased functional status. Results are interpreted in light of current psychosomatic theory.

Evaluation of a multicomponent group smoking cessation program.

BACKGROUND: Participants who had completed a multicomponent group smoking cessation program were interviewed to determine their smoking status and satisfaction with the program. METHODS: The follow-up interviews occurred an average of 20 months after entry to the program, with a response rate of 80% (89 out of 111 enrollees). Most individuals interviewed (82%) were able to quit for at least 24 hr; 25% were able to maintain nonsmoking status for 1 year or longer. RESULTS: Initial quit rates were comparable for both men and women, but women were more than twice as likely to have relapsed by the time of the follow-up interview. Participants rated self-monitoring as the most helpful of 10 program components, including nicotine fading, nicotine gum, group support, health information, and talks by ex-smokers. Ratings for the program overall were higher than the rating of any individual component. CONCLUSIONS: Since earlier studies have found that successful quitters use more coping strategies than relapsers, multicomponent programs offer participants an opportunity to learn a variety of techniques and choose the combination that works best for them.

Child rearing patterns in Brazil.

Perceived childrearing patterns have been studied in Brazilian samples of college students, normal population and depressives. Furthermore comparisons were made with the original Swedish normative sample, showing the Brazilian parents as more tolerant, affectionate, performance oriented and punitive. As concerns the depressed patients they experienced their parents among others as more guilt engendering, more depriving and less affectionate. The implications of these findings for clinical work are also discussed.