Resilience in schizophrenia: A comparative study between a remote island and an urban area in Japan.

The resilience levels between patients with schizophrenia residing in a rural island and a metropolitan area in Tokyo, Japan, was compared and the factors associated with resilience were explored. The Resilience Scale (RS) and EuroQol were assessed, together with biological markers and multiple demographic variables. No significant difference was found in the RS scores between the two groups (40 subjects each). However, longer duration of illness and higher EuroQol score were significantly associated with a greater RS score, which indicates that potentially successful adaptation and subjective perspectives appear more pertinent than the degree of urbanicity in determining resilience levels.

Risperidone-associated urinary incontinence in patients with autistic disorder with mental retardation.

We report several cases in which patients with autistic disorder with mental retardation who received risperidone experienced urinary incontinence. We retrospectively investigated the medical records of patients housed in facilities for patients with autistic disorder with mental retardation. Those who had undergone a medical examination at a hospital in Tokyo from April 1999 to March 2009 were included in the study.Retrospective data were gathered including age, sex, IQ, birth weight, dosage of risperidone, urinary density, as well as existence of urinary and fecal incontinence. We divided the participants into those who did and did not experience urinary incontinence after taking risperidone and compared the 2 groups. Risperidone had been prescribed to 35 patients. In spite of the fact that no patient had a history of urinary incontinence, 14 patients experienced urinary incontinence after receiving risperidone. Moreover, 4 of these 14 patients also had fecal incontinence. Among the variables we examined, the only significant difference between groups was in sex, with significantly more women experiencing incontinence compared with men. When the dose of risperidone was reduced or the patients switched to other drugs, urinary incontinence of the patients improved.Hence, risperidone may have a casual relationship with urinary incontinence. Further research is needed to understand the pathophysiology of possible effect.

The evolution of antipsychotic switch and polypharmacy in natural practice--a longitudinal perspective.

OBJECTIVE: Most patients with schizophrenia first start with a single antipsychotic, and yet most finally end up 'switching' or using 'polypharmacy'. The objective of this study was to examine the evolution of antipsychotic switch and polypharmacy in the real-world from a longitudinal perspective. METHODS: A systematic review of longitudinal antipsychotic prescriptions in 300 patients with schizophrenia (ICD-10) for up to 2 years after their first visit to one of the 4 participating psychiatric clinics in Tokyo, Japan between January, 2007 and June, 2008, was conducted. Reasons for prescription change were also examined. The evolution of switching and polypharmacy was studied, and prescribed doses were compared to suggested dose ranges by the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP). RESULTS: 208 patients started their antipsychotic treatment with monotherapy. 34.1% of the patients gave up monotherapy with an initial antipsychotic to move to antipsychotic switch (27.4%) and/or polypharmacy (17.8%) within 2 years. The main reason for antipsychotic switch was 'ineffectiveness'; interestingly, this happened despite the fact that the monotherapy dose was below the recommended range in 47.4% of the antipsychotic switch. In a subgroup of 100 patients who started as antipsychotic-free, 2-year prevalence rates of switching and antipsychotic polypharmacy were 27.0% and 18.0%, respectively, and polypharmacy was resorted to after a median of 1 antipsychotic had been tried for 84 days (median). CONCLUSIONS: These findings raise a concern that physicians may perform an antipsychotic switch without exploring the entire dose range and resort to antipsychotic polypharmacy without trying an adequate number of antipsychotics.

Patient's trust in their psychiatrist: a cross-sectional survey.

Investigating and characterizing the degree and correlates of patient's trust in their treating psychiatrists across a range of psychiatric disorders is of a great clinical relevance to enhance our therapeutic alliance, which has not been addressed in the literature. In this study, outpatients who visited one of the participating psychiatric clinics in Tokyo, Japan between October and November, 2010 were asked to complete the Trust in Physician Scale (TPS), an 11-item self-report questionnaire. A univariate general linear model was used to examine the effects of the following variables on the TPS total score: age, sex, diagnosis, Global Assessment of Functioning score, educational background, physician's years of practice as a psychiatrist, duration of treatment with their current psychiatrists, sex concordance between patients and their psychiatrists, and whether patients were older than their psychiatrists. Five hundred and four patients were enrolled (mean ± SD age = 42.8 ± 13.6 years; 176 men; Psychiatric diagnoses (ICD-10): F0 [N = 8], F2 [N = 72], F3 [N = 252], F4 [N = 147], F6 [N = 22]). A duration of treatment with their current psychiatrist of ≥ 1 year and a duration of their physician's clinical expertise as a psychiatrist for ≥ 10 years were associated with a greater degree of patient's trust in their psychiatrist. Furthermore, patients with a F3 diagnosis showed a significantly higher TPS total score than those with F4. These findings underscore an importance of paying close attention to patients who are relatively new and are not treated by well-experienced psychiatrists in terms of subjective trust. Furthermore, this likely holds more true for patients with neurotic disorders.

Reducing the dose of antipsychotic agents ameliorates visual hypersensitivity attack: an ideal treatment option in terms of the adverse effect.

There are sporadic reports of antipsychotic-induced visual hypersensitivity attack (VHA). VHA is characterized by hypersensitivity of perception mainly in the visual modality and sometimes accompanied by an oculogyric crisis. However, some researchers regard VHA as a schizophrenia symptom. To determine whether VHA is an adverse effect of antipsychotic agents, we examined the effect of dose reduction on VHA. This was an open-label 36-week study. We randomized 34 patients with VHA to a reduced-dose group and a fixed-dose group. Primary outcome measures were the frequency and duration of VHA, assessed with patients' self-reports, and the Clinical Global Impressions (CGI). Assessment also included the Drug-induced Extrapyramidal Symptoms Scale for extrapyramidal symptoms, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for schizophrenia, and the CGI for other diagnoses. Data were collected from August 2000 to April 2005 at 4 psychiatric hospitals in Tokyo.VHA diminished in 16 patients (94.1%) in the reduced-dose group in the CGI score, the frequency (number of episodes per week), and the duration of the episodes (from 4.06 to 1.77, P < 0.001; from 2.59 to 0.82, P = 0.001; and from 1.92 to 0.66 hours, P = 0.007, respectively), but there were no changes in the fixed-dose group. There were no changes in the underlying illness as measured by the PANSS in both groups. Reducing the dose of antipsychotic agents ameliorates VHA and represents the ideal treatment option for patients with VHA.