ABSTRACT
A novel ward-round procedure was introduced on an acute psychiatric admissions ward. There was an equal balance in number of staff and patients attending the meetings simultaneously, and all team members participated in the interviewing and discussion. This was compared to the traditional type of ward-round procedure in which one patient attends at any given time, and the consultant is the exclusive interviewer and director of team discussion. The content of negotiation in the traditional ward round was compared to that in the novel style of meeting and it was found that the novel format produced a swing away from medical and diagnostic issues to domestic and social matters.
Subject(s)
Patient Care Team/methods , Psychiatric Department, Hospital , Humans , Professional-Patient Relations , Social AdjustmentSubject(s)
Cephalometry , Embryonic and Fetal Development , Models, Theoretical , Abdomen/anatomy & histology , Female , Humans , PregnancySubject(s)
Anorexia Nervosa , Dwarfism/etiology , Adolescent , Alcohol Drinking , Child , Constipation , Humans , Male , Nausea , Psychotherapy , Social Behavior DisordersABSTRACT
The cases of 13 men with anorexia nervosa are reported. While the disorder as seen in the clinic is much less common in males than females this may not be a true reflection of the differential sex or overall prevalence rates. The disorder is found to have the same basic characteristics in the male as in the female: namely, a phobic avoidance of normal weight associated with elective carbohydrate starvation and emaciation. As in the female the mechanism appears to develop out of normal adolescent dieting behaviour and to arise as a means of avoiding overwhelming psychosocial maturational demands of adolescence. Premorbid and family features include a state of overnutrition and a high degree of family psychopathology reflected in high rates of parental psychiatric morbidity and marital difficulty.
