摘要:

The discussion of auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia has traditionally focused on verbal auditory hallucinations, or ‘voices’. Little attention, on the other hand, has been given to the phenomenon of musical hallucinations. In an effort to characterize the prevalence and phenomenology of musical hallucinations, 100 consecutive schizophrenic inpatients were examined for the presence of musical hallucinations and musical imagery. Sixteen patients responded positively, and were engaged in a more thorough interview. They were then divided into two groups: those with musical hallucinations, and those experiencing musical imagery. This determination was made based on the absence or presence, respectively, of volitional control, hypothesizing that lack of volitional control implies a true hallucinatory experience. When lack of volitional control was compared to the various other aspects of the experience, an association with religious content was demonstrated. Religious musical hallucinations also tended to be experienced as distressing, further supporting the hypothesis that the experience was hallucinatory rather than a product of volitional imagery. A selection of sample case vignettes is presented as well.

ISSN:0254-4962    

DOI:10.1159/000285046

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1997

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

Consecutively referred out-patients (n = 102) with non-psychotic functional psychiatric disorders were examined. Nine syndrome scores (panic attack, phobic anxiety, generalized anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, dissociative, conversion, somatoform, depersonalization, and depressive) showed patterns corresponding to ICD-10 diagnoses. However, some also showed moderate correlations between each other. Factor analysis revealed that the nine syndrome scores could be accounted for by three factors – anxiety and somatic, depression and obsessive-compulsive, and hysterical. These findings cast doubt on the nosological specificity of the recent categorization of neurotic disorders. Furthermore, the symptom constellations identified in this study may be culture-bound.

ISSN:0254-4962    

DOI:10.1159/000285047

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1997

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

In the modern classification systems ICD-10 and DSM-III-R, the term seasonality has been given a separate significance in the diagnostic categorization of affective disorders. Its definition is oriented not merely to the increased seasonal prevalence in the autumn and winter months, but also to symptoms that do not occur in nonseasonal attacks. To date, research work on seasonality in schizophrenia has concentrated on birth seasonality, while no results based on large populations of patients have yet become available on the manifestation seasonality of schizophrenic subtypes. Within the framework of a retrospective study carried out in the period between 1983 and 1995, involving 2,119 patients suffering from recurrent attacks of schizophrenia, seasonal manifestations were recorded in accordance with the criteria defined in DSM-III-R. It was found that the two subtypes of paranoid hallucinatory and schizoaffective psychoses met the criterion of seasonality significantly more frequently than did the subtypes disorganized and catatonic disorders. In addition, seasonal courses within the groups just mentioned clearly differed from the nonseasonal forms in terms of their symptomatology.

ISSN:0254-4962    

DOI:10.1159/000285048

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1997

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

Of 39 diagnosed Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) patients who were interviewed 2–5 years after participation in a light therapy trial, 10 continued to have recurrent major depressive episodes in winter, and 17 manifested sub-syndromal SAD (2 patients also had recurrent brief depression, seasonal type). 8 patients had recovered, and 4 had shifted in symptomatology. Thus, over a number of years, the clinical diagnosis changed for the better in 64% of the patients, suggesting that SAD is not a prodromal form of a more chronic major affective disorder, and that light therapy (and perhaps also light-oriented behaviour) reduced the incidence and depth of subsequent depressive episodes. Further evidence for this was the large reduction in use of conventional antide-pressant drugs (from 17 to 1) during the follow-up period. Diagnosis of SAD was stable and reliable.

ISSN:0254-4962    

DOI:10.1159/000285049

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1997

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

Deboleza is a behavioural construct among the inhabitants of Istria (a peninsula in the Adriatic Sea which belongs mainly to Croatia); it has peculiar social, ethno-psychological and historical characteristics because it is a relatively small region which has been the intersection of various cultures and civilizations. In this research the concept is analysed from the psychomedical point of view. As deboleza does not have the status of an illness, it functions as a culture-bound syndrome which, because of its emotional expressions, belongs to the ‘shame’ family. This interesting construct should be thoroughly studied not only in a peculiar and dynamic Croatian culture and in Croatian psychiatry, but also within European culture and psychiatry.

ISSN:0254-4962    

DOI:10.1159/000285050

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1997

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

The article describes a cultural pattern related to altered states of consciousness, observed amongst new immigrants from Ethiopia to Israel. The belief in possession by Zar spirits is one of the most common possession phenomena in Africa and in other continents. Possession by Zar is expressed by a wide range of behaviors, such as involuntary movements, mutism and incomprehensible language. Such behavior can be misinterpreted as representing symptoms of neuralgic or psychiatric disorders. We demonstrate the Zar phenomenon by a description of a detailed case. The article discusses the cultural and anthropological aspects of the Zar and its clinical implications and suggests that the Zar phenomenon should be understood as a culture-bound syndrome.

ISSN:0254-4962    

DOI:10.1159/000285051

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1997

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

The construct validity of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) in measuring treatment outcome is assessed in 103 psychiatric inpatients. In this context, construct validity means that the BDI measures the same construct in repeated measurement and that the change scores can be explained by treatment effects. In confirmatory factor analyses, only the first factor proved to be stable. In accordance with other studies, the sensitivity to therapeutic change in long-term intervals of several weeks could be confirmed. Significant changes in a short-term interval of 1 day in the non-endogenously depressed patients indicate an overreactivity of the BDI to change which cannot be explained by treatment effects or mood changes.

ISSN:0254-4962    

DOI:10.1159/000285052

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1997

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

This paper presents the field of psycholexicology as an area of study concerned with etimology, meaning, and social legitimacy of the terms employed in psychiatric discourse, conceived of as the disciplinary foundation of clinical and research psychiatry. The influence of semantic constraints on structure and usage of psychopathological diagnosis is emphasized. Work in progress related to translation and cultural biases in terminology is briefly described.

ISSN:0254-4962    

DOI:10.1159/000285053

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1997

数据来源: Karger