Publications by authors named "Adriana Fitzsimmons"
Article Synopsis
- - Psychotic disorders following traumatic brain injury (TBI) are often overlooked but have significant long-term effects, as seen in a case of a 63-year-old male who developed schizophrenia after a gunshot-related TBI.
- - The interplay between TBI and psychosis involves neuroplasticity and can increase the vulnerability to chronic psychotic disorders, particularly in individuals with genetic predispositions.
- - Understanding the differences between post-TBI psychosis and primary schizophrenia is essential for effective treatment, and there are challenges in proving a direct causal relationship between TBI and the development of schizophrenia.
Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES), which was first described in 1996, is a neurologic condition characterized by a combination of clinical and neuroimaging findings. PRES may arise in the context of preeclampsia, eclampsia, renal failure, and sepsis, among other conditions. Neuropsychiatric symptoms of PRES include altered mental status, agitation, and in some cases psychosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn our case report, a 29-year-old male patient with a known history of schizophrenia presented with altered mental status and catatonia and was found to have an enlarged (21mm) cavum septum pellucidum (CSP) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). He was subsequently treated with escitalopram, olanzapine, methylphenidate, lorazepam, and eight electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments during his hospital course, after which his catatonia improved. We compared this to other cases in which a large CSP was identified and discussed the possibility of increased susceptibility to psychosis, specifically catatonia, which might be associated with this developmental anomaly.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDepression in pregnancy: time of screening and access to psychiatric care.
J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med
November 2011
Objective: To determine the timing of screening for postpartum depression that optimizes access to psychiatric care.
Methods: Cross-sectional evaluation of women receiving obstetric care in a community-based medical center clinic from March to July 2006, who were screened for depression at 36 weeks gestation, delivery, and 6 weeks postpartum using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Positive screens generated referrals for psychiatric evaluation.