[Clinical Characteristics of Malingering Among Arrested and Convicted Male Cases That are Sent for Treatment]. / Tedaviye Gönderilmis Tutuklu ve Hükümlü Erkek Olgularda Hekimi Yaniltici Davranisin Klinik Özellikleri.

OBJECTIVE: The study is done to investigate the predictive variables of malingering among arrested/convicted cases and the clinical characteristics of malingerers. METHOD: The study includes 70 arrested/convicted male cases internalized for their treatment. Aform to collect clinical or sociodemografic data, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Disorders (SCID I), Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID II), Symptom Check-list (SCL-90-R) and Rey Memory Test (RMT) are applied. Two independent psychiatrists, without being part of the study diagnosed malingering. RESULTS: Arrested cases reported mostly psychotic like and convicted cases mostly depression like symptoms. RMT is helpful by malingering and SCL-90-R psychotic symptom and paranoid symptom subscale scores were both correlated negatively when compared to the RMT scores by malingerers. Axis-I or Axis-II diagnosis were found out to be more predictive than other clinical variables to determine malingering. CONCLUSION: This study indicate that clinicians have to take malingering into account especially by arrested and convicted cases applied for treatment and they have to be careful by doing the differential diagnosis. Large sample studies conducted with arrested and convicted cases and surveys by grouping cases according to the expertise and treatment services may provide additional data related to malingering.

Temperament characteristics in patients with panic disorder and their first-degree relatives.

AIM: Panic disorder is one of the highly heritable anxiety disorders; and temperament characteristics are considered predicting liability to panic disorder. Accumulating evidence suggests temperament characteristics are intermediate phenotypes for clinical conditions. Given this background, we aimed to investigate temperament characteristics in patients with panic disorder, their first-degree relatives, and healthy controls. METHOD: Study sample consisted of 60 patients with panic disorder, 37 first-degree relatives of these patients, and 37 age, gender, and education level matched healthy controls (HC). SCID-I, the Panic Agoraphobia Scale, and the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory were applied to assess clinical characteristics of the patient group. Temperament characteristics were assessed using the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, San Diego Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A). RESULTS: Anxious, depressive, cyclothymic, and irritable temperament scores of patients were higher than those of HC. There was no difference between the patients and the relatives, with the exception of higher anxious temperament scores in patients. CONCLUSION: Overall, our findings suggest that anxious temperament characteristic might be a trait marker for liability to panic disorder. Further research with a prospective design in a larger sample is required to confirm our findings.

[Social skills training in psychosocial therapy of schizophrenia: a multicenter study for symptom management and medication management modules]. / Sizofreninin ruhsal-toplumsal tedavisinde sosyal beceri egitimi. Belirtilerle basetme ve ilaç tedavisi yaklasiminin türkiye'de cok merkezli bir uygulamasi.

OBJECTIVE: It is known that psychosocial skills training programs increase the efficacy of schizophrenia treatment. The aim of this study was to carry out the Turkish version of two modules of a commonly used program, Social Skills Training (Medication Management and Symptom Management Modules), and to determine its possible benefits. METHOD: The study was carried out at three sites. Fifty schizophrenic patients who were at least literate and who did not have language problems or organic mental diseases, aged 18-60, using antipsychotic agents in a standard dose and in a stable phase were included in the study. Eight training groups were formed. Each group consisted of 5-7 individuals and the study took approximately eight months. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, the Quality of Life Scale: an instrument for rating the schizophrenic deficit syndrome, the Drug Treatment Compliance Scale and Pre- and Post-Tests of Social Skills Training were applied to the patients before and after the group education The scores of the rating scales were compared. RESULTS: Thirty-eight (76%) patients completed the study. The mean age of the patients was 32 +/- 7, 84% were men, 58% had received less than 11 years, of education 84% had never married, and 97% were living with their families. The mean age of illness onset was 20 +/- 5 years, and the mean duration of the illness was 12 +/- 7 years. At the end of the study, the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale scores (baseline 42.0, after the training 37.1, p<0.02), and the Quality of Life Scale scores (baseline 67.5, after the training 75.3, p<0.01) were significantly changed. The level of knowledge of the patients about the medication and symptoms of schizophrenia increased 20.6%. Drug treatment compliance had also increased by the end of the study. CONCLUSION: The results show that this program contributed to the treatment compliance and treatment efficacy in schizophrenia. Increased treatment efficacy might have played a role in increasing of the quality of life a long with the group milieu. It may be concluded that this social skills training program, which did not encounter any problems in application, may contribute significantly to the treatment of schizophrenia.