[Personality Disorders and Value Orientation as Predictors for Male Depression in Military and Civilian Patients]. / Persönlichkeitsstörungen und Werteorientierungen als Prädiktoren männlicher Depression bei militärischen und zivilen Patienten.

The aim of this clinical study was to detect differences between a civil and a military inpatient population with depressive disorders with respect to traits of male depression, personality disorders and value orientations. Fifty civil and fifty military participants answered various psychometric testings at the beginning of treatment. No differences were found concerning male depression. Personality traits and value orientations were found to be predictive for severity and frequency of depressive disorders in different depression inventories.

[Perspectives and Opportunities for Psychotherapeutic Interventions in Inpatient Psychiatric Treatment Delivered by Nurses]. / Perspektiven und Chancen für pflegerisch-psychotherapeutische Interventionen in der stationären psychiatrischen Behandlung.

BACKGROUND: Psychotherapy is an essential part of treating people with mental illness. However, the implementation of psychotherapeutic interventions in the field of inpatient psychiatric treatment remains well behind demand. At the same time, the use of psychotherapeutic interventions by other professional groups - such as social workers and nursing - is not a common practice in Germany. OBJECTIVE: What can we learn from the international research with regard to nursing for Germany in view of the insufficient supply of psychotherapeutic care. METHOD: Based on a literature analysis, the German situation of care is related to international developments and a German training curriculum is presented. RESULT: A look at the international literature shows that in other countries especially trained nurses perform psychotherapeutic Interventions. In addition, there are effective training curricula whose transferability to Germany appears to be possible after appropriate adjustments.An 18 months lasting training program for nurses is presented. In addition to disorder-specific competences, this curriculum also provides psychotherapeutic interventions with a general approach. CONCLUSION: Collaborative care in the collaboration of different health professionals has been repeatedly and stably proven to be effective and helpful in treating people with various mental disorders. In order to better meet the growing need for psychotherapeutic interventions in the population in the sense of a stepped care model, trained nurses need to be more involved in the provision of psychotherapeutic services.

[What is a "Considerable Damage to One's Health" in the Sense of German Guardianship Law?] / Was ist ein "erheblicher gesundheitlicher Schaden" im Sinne des § 1906 BGB?

The term of a "considerable damage to one's health" is central in German guardianship law with respect to judge's decisions on involuntary commitment and coercive treatment. A legal definition has not been provided, and up to now no explanations from the part of medicine have been available what a "considerable damage to one's health" is in the case of mental illness and how it can be determined. A consensus paper of the German Association of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy (DGPPN) explains four possible scenarios of manifestation of such kind of damage, corresponding to somatic illnesses: evidence of structural brain lesions (rare), subjective suffering (sufficient, but not necessary), impairment of functioning in important areas of life, and severe impairment of social participation (e. g. by dangerous behaviour against others). This view corresponds with the WHO's bio-psycho-social concept of health.