Social interaction and drug attitude effectiveness in patients with schizophrenia.

This study aimed to explore the relationship between dosage of paliperidone and drug attitude, and also clarify the factors associated with drug attitude, using Intention-to-Treat (ITT) analysis. Three hundred thirty-one patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, who prescribed paliperidone between April 2008 and April 2009, from 10 hospitals in Taiwan were enrolled. By structural equation modeling, inpatient/outpatient status associated with occupation status, sex, and score on the Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGIS) Scale. The score on the Personal and Social Performance (PSP) Scale associated with occupation status, inpatient/outpatient status, and the score on the CGIS Scale. The scores on the DAI-10 associated with the score on the PSP Scale and age. Good drug attitude and medication adherence significantly related to good social interaction. We should enhance the drug attitude and medication adherence of patients with schizophrenia who have poor social interaction to improve the outcome of schizophrenia.

The establishment of a standard operation procedure for psychiatric service after an earthquake.

This study presents information on the design and creation of a standard operation procedure (SOP) for psychiatric service after an earthquake. The strategies employed focused on the detection of survivors who developed persistent psychiatric illness, particularly post-traumatic stress and major depressive disorders. In addition, the study attempted to detect the risk factors for psychiatric illness. A Disaster-Related Psychological Screening Test (DRPST) was designed by five psychiatrists and two public health professionals for rapidly and simply interviewing 4,223 respondents within six months of the September 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake. A SOP was established through a systemic literature review, action research, and two years of data collection. Despite the limited time and resources inherent to a disaster situation, it is necessary to develop an SOP for psychiatric service after an earthquake in order to assist the high number of survivors suffering from subsequent psychiatric impairment.

A three-year follow-up study of the psychosocial predictors of delayed and unresolved post-traumatic stress disorder in Taiwan Chi-Chi earthquake survivors.

AIMS: To predict the longitudinal course of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in survivors three years following a catastrophic earthquake using multivariate data presented six months after the earthquake. METHODS: Trained assistants and psychiatrists used the Disaster-related Psychological Screening Test (DRPST) to interview earthquake survivors 16 years and older and to assess current and incidental psychopathology. A total of 1756 respondents were surveyed over the three-year follow-up period. RESULTS: A total of 38 (9.1%) of the original 418 PTSD subjects and 40 of the original 1338 (3.0%) non-PTSD subjects were identified as having PTSD at the 3-year post-earthquake follow up. Younger age, significant financial loss, and memory/attention impairment were predictive factors of unresolved PTSD and delayed PTSD. CONCLUSIONS: The longitudinal course of PTSD three years after the earthquake could be predicted as early as six months after the earthquake on the basis of demographic data, PTSD-related factors, and putative factors for PTSD.

Association study of serotonin 1B receptor (A-161T) genetic polymorphism and suicidal behaviors and response to fluoxetine in major depressive disorder.

Serotonin 1B receptors (5-HT1B) are autoreceptors involved in the local inhibitory control of serotonin release, and have been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD) and the antidepressant effects of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in patients. We genotyped the 5-HT1B A-161T polymorphism in 160 patients with MDD and 160 normal controls. We then tested the hypothesis that the allelic variant, A-161T, of the 5-HT1B gene confers susceptibility to MDD or is associated with suicide attempt. We also examined the association of this polymorphism with therapeutic response in 116 of the MDD patients who received fluoxetine treatment for 4 weeks. No significant difference was found in the A-161T genetic polymorphism between MDD patients and controls. The genotype distribution between patients with and without suicide attempt, or between fluoxetine treatment responders and nonresponders were also similar. Our findings suggest that 5-HT1B A-161T genetic polymorphism does not play a major role in the susceptibility to MDD, nor is it related to suicidal attempt or the therapeutic response to fluoxetine in MDD.