ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The number of ethnic German immigrants from former East bloc countries (Aussiedler) has considerably increased during the past 20 years. However, studies on the frequency of psychiatric disorders or on psychosocial risk factors for psychiatric morbidity in this partially inhomogenous population group are remarkably rare. METHOD: We undertook a comprehensive research of the current literature to gain the first systematic review on this issue. RESULTS: The most frequent mental disorders among these special group of migrants were depressive disorders, adjustment disorders with brief depressive reactions as well as somatoform disorders, alcoholism and drug dependency. CONCLUSIONS: Ethnic German immigrants are a risk group for mental disorders.
Subject(s)
Acculturation , Emigrants and Immigrants/psychology , Mental Disorders/epidemiology , Social Adjustment , Alcoholism/diagnosis , Alcoholism/epidemiology , Alcoholism/psychology , Anxiety Disorders/diagnosis , Anxiety Disorders/epidemiology , Anxiety Disorders/psychology , Comorbidity , Crime/psychology , Crime/statistics & numerical data , Cross-Sectional Studies , Depressive Disorder/diagnosis , Depressive Disorder/epidemiology , Depressive Disorder/psychology , Emigrants and Immigrants/statistics & numerical data , Germany , Humans , Mental Disorders/diagnosis , Mental Disorders/psychology , Social Problems/statistics & numerical data , Somatoform Disorders/diagnosis , Somatoform Disorders/epidemiology , Somatoform Disorders/psychology , Substance-Related Disorders/diagnosis , Substance-Related Disorders/epidemiology , Substance-Related Disorders/psychologyABSTRACT
Disturbed autonomic nervous system (ANS) function in schizophrenia might contribute to increased cardiovascular mortality. We obtained heart rate variability indices from 40 unmedicated schizophrenic patients and 58 matched controls. Mainly we found that patients displaying stronger psychotic symptoms as assessed by the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale exhibit more severe cardiac ANS disturbances compared with controls.
Subject(s)
Autonomic Nervous System Diseases/physiopathology , Heart/physiology , Nerve Net/physiopathology , Psychotic Disorders/physiopathology , Schizophrenia, Paranoid/physiopathology , Vagus Nerve/physiology , Acute Disease , Adult , Antipsychotic Agents/adverse effects , Arrhythmias, Cardiac/chemically induced , Autonomic Nervous System Diseases/epidemiology , Female , Heart Rate/drug effects , Humans , Male , Psychotic Disorders/drug therapy , Psychotic Disorders/epidemiology , Schizophrenia, Paranoid/drug therapy , Schizophrenia, Paranoid/epidemiologySubject(s)
Brain/pathology , MELAS Syndrome/complications , MELAS Syndrome/psychology , Personality Disorders/etiology , Adult , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Diagnosis, Differential , Encephalitis/pathology , Humans , MELAS Syndrome/physiopathology , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Male , Muscle, Skeletal/pathology , Muscle, Skeletal/physiology , Point Mutation , Radiography , Seizures/etiologyABSTRACT
This case report describes the longstanding course of a delusion of pregnancy in a 51-year-old schizophrenic Ghanaian woman suffering from multiple symptoms of delusions and hallucinations. In addition to these symptoms, the patient was affected by multiple coenesthesias, ego disturbances and bizarre delusions of being influenced by external forces. A multi-causal aetiology of delusional pregnancy is discussed.
Subject(s)
Delusions/psychology , Pregnancy/psychology , Schizophrenia/complications , Delusions/etiology , Ego , Female , Humans , Middle Aged , Schizophrenic PsychologyABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: High-frequency electrical stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus is a new and highly effective therapy for complications of long-term levodopa therapy and motor symptoms in advanced Parkinson disease (PD). Clinical observations indicate additional influence on emotional behavior. METHODS: Electrical stimulation of deep brain nuclei with pulse rates above 100 Hz provokes a reversible, lesioning-like effect. Here, the effect of deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus on emotional, cognitive, and motor performance in patients with PD (n = 12) was examined. The results were compared with the effects of a suprathreshold dose of levodopa intended to transiently restore striatal dopamine deficiency. Patients were tested during medication off/stimulation off (STIM OFF), medication off/stimulation on (STIM ON), and during the best motor state after taking levodopa without deep brain stimulation (MED). RESULTS: More positive self-reported mood and an enhanced mood induction effect as well as improvement in emotional memory during STIM ON were observed, while during STIM OFF, patients revealed reduced emotional performance. Comparable effects were revealed by STIM ON and MED. Cognitive performance was not affected by the different conditions and treatments. CONCLUSIONS: Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus selectively enhanced affective processing and subjective well-being and seemed to be antidepressive. Levodopa and deep brain stimulation had similar effects on emotion. This finding may provide new clues about the neurobiologic bases of emotion and mood disorders, and it illustrates the important role of the basal ganglia and the dopaminergic system in emotional processing in addition to the well-known motor and cognitive functions.
