Acute postdisaster psychiatric disorders: identification of persons at risk

Article Abstract:

An examination was made of the short-term effects on the mental health of individuals who had survived an extremely traumatic event. On October 10, 1987, a jet crashed into the lobby of a hotel without warning. Most of the victims were hotel employees. The disaster was sudden and extreme in scope and intensity. Those in the hotel at the time were subjected to direct threat of injury or death and the horror of seeing co-workers die or suffer mutilating injuries. Post-traumatic stress disorders have been previously studied, but the emphasis has generally been more upon the longer-term effects of a severe trauma. In this study, the prevalence of four specific disorders (posttraumatic stress disorder, major depression, anxiety disorder, and alcohol abuse) was examined in survivors within four to six weeks after the event. It was hypothesized that a greater prevalence of one or more of these disorders would be observed in individuals with a prior history of mental disturbance. Characteristics were assessed and diagnoses were made on individuals who were in the hotel during the crash and employees who were not on site at the time. Twenty-five individuals (54 percent) met the criteria for psychiatric problems outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, third edition. Of these 25 subjects, 72 percent had a history of psychiatric disturbance prior to the crash. However, almost one-third of the 25 who were diagnosed had no history of a psychiatric disorder. Almost 50 percent of the total group did not develop any clinically diagnosed disorder during this period, which may help clinicians to focus more on health issues following a disaster. The data also indicated that there was a correlation between the intensity of the experience of the trauma and the severity of the resulting post-traumatic disorder. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Research, Case studies, Evaluation, Depression, Mental, Depression (Mood disorder), Substance abuse, Anxiety, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Disaster victims

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The relation of ulcerative colitis to psychiatric factors: a review of findings and methods

Article Abstract:

A psychiatric influence on the development of ulcerative colitis has been discussed for a long time. This study was done to review all the English-language literature on this subject in order to assess the validity of the researchers' conclusions. These evaluators found many inadequacies in the research methodology used in most of these studies, including small and nonrandom study groups, inappropriately confirmed medical diagnoses, lacking or inappropriate control groups, vague diagnostic criteria, and unwarranted conclusions. Out of 138 studies evaluated, only seven described adequate research methods according to the standards used by the authors of this review. The evaluators were especially critical of studies that lacked statistical data analysis and involved study group bias. Many of the studies were done on patients who had been referred for psychiatric treatment, without a non-psychiatric patient population used as a control group. These research inadequacies are not unique to studies on this topic, since more than 70 percent of a random sample of studies from American medical periodicals have presented insufficient statistics to support their conclusions. Among the seven studies which achieved quality research standards, none found an association between colitis and psychiatric diagnoses that was greater than would be found in the general population, and one (of four studies that looked) found an association between ulcerative colitis and certain personality factors. The authors stress the importance of using appropriate control groups and diagnostic criteria for all future studies assessing the relationship between psychiatric factors and ulcerative colitis. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Psychological aspects, Standards, Causes of, Medical research, Ulcerative colitis

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New methods in cross-cultural psychiatry: psychiatric illness in Taiwan and the United States

Article Abstract:

It is difficult to study psychiatric disorders across cultures; many variables are involved. For instance, case identification techniques differ in many countries, or they are not described fully in research reports making data comparison difficult. In an attempt to overcome some of the shortcomings of traditional cross-cultural psychiatric research, the present study compared the reported rates of psychiatric disorders in Taiwan with those in the US. Data from large, community-based studies in both countries were combined into a single data set for analysis. Both studies used the same diagnostic criteria for case identification. When lifetime prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders in both countries were generated from the data, the rates were lower in Taiwan than in the US during the period sampled at 21.56 and 35.55 percent, respectively. The rates of most specific disorders were lower in Taiwan as well. These results offer the first clear picture of cross-cultural differences in psychiatric morbidity. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Methods, Taiwan, Demographic aspects, Surveys, Mental illness, Mental disorders, Psychiatry, Transcultural, Transcultural psychiatry

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