ABSTRACT
An overview of post-traumatic stress disorder, including a brief historical survey, and its epidemiology, nosology, etiology, clinical presentation, treatment, prognosis as well as a short vignette, highlights the fact that this disorder prevails in times of war and peace. Early intervention is emphasized as the key to successful treatment. The timeliness for Canadian mental health professionals to review this disorder is also mentioned.
Subject(s)
Combat Disorders/diagnosis , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/diagnosis , Adult , Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic/therapeutic use , Combat Disorders/classification , Combat Disorders/psychology , Combat Disorders/therapy , Combined Modality Therapy , Humans , Male , Personality Development , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales , Psychotherapy , Risk Factors , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/classification , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/psychology , Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/therapy , Suicide/psychologyABSTRACT
Seventy to 80 chronic psychiatric patients are treated in an aftercare clinic with a goal of tertiary preventive care. The major component of the treatment approach is reality-oriented group psychotherapy with an emphasis on interpersonal relationships. Attention to three factors in group psychotherapy with this population of patients has facilitated our work and outcome. These are the concept of the core group, diagnostic heterogeneity, and staff structure.
Subject(s)
Ambulatory Care , Mental Disorders/therapy , Psychotherapy, Group/methods , Aftercare/methods , Ambulatory Care Facilities/organization & administration , Chronic Disease , Goals , Humans , Interpersonal Relations , Mental Disorders/prevention & control , Ontario , Preventive Health ServicesABSTRACT
Negative symptoms are mostly associated with schizophrenic illness. This paper discusses the presence of negative symptoms in other chronic psychiatric illnesses. We have observed that longitudinally primary negative symptoms tend to be constant and are precisely symptoms which can define chronicity. They are as unspecific as positive symptoms in mental illness.
Subject(s)
Mental Disorders/psychology , Schizophrenic Language , Schizophrenic Psychology , Adult , Affective Symptoms/psychology , Attention , Chronic Disease , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Motivation , ThinkingABSTRACT
This retrospective study examined the prevalence of depression and psychosomatic disorders among Soviet Jewish immigrants, and how such problems might have affected their children's adaptation. A 36-item English and Russian questionnaire was sent to 452 Soviet Jewish immigrants, requesting information on possible problems they or their children had had during the first three years after immigration. Ninety people responded, 78% of whom had children. Immigrants with depression and psychosomatic illness reported greater behaviour, academic, peer interaction, and child-parent difficulties in their children. Those who were married, were proficient in English, were professionals in the USSR and/or Canada and who had supportive friends, were more likely to adapt well. Because of the low response rate, the failure to validate the questionnaire, and the possible overrepresentation of professionals the findings are presented as preliminary pending further exploration. They are discussed for their relevance to the early identification of difficulties in immigrants and their children, and to the need for timely and informed intervention.
Subject(s)
Acculturation , Adaptation, Psychological , Emigration and Immigration , Jews/psychology , Adjustment Disorders/psychology , Adult , Child , Depressive Disorder/psychology , Humans , Job Satisfaction , Middle Aged , Ontario , Psychophysiologic Disorders/psychology , Risk Factors , USSR/ethnologyABSTRACT
This paper describes the result of a survey on one Canadian Psychiatric Residency Program. Fifty-four percent of the residents responded to the questionnaire enquiring about their experience of termination in long-term psychotherapy. The majority of residents (66%), had ended therapy prior to fifty sessions. In only a small number of terminations the resident felt the patient was ready to terminate (16%) and that therapy had come to a "natural termination". Therapy often ended prematurely due to the change of setting of the resident, drop-out and other practical circumstances as well as therapeutic impasses. The paper discusses the factors that influence the premature ending of what the residents undertook as long-term psychotherapy and their implications for their training and the patients' treatment.
