Association Between Anxiety and Reflux Symptoms in Patients With Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Objective: The purpose of this paper is to examine the prevalence and symptom severity of anxiety and depression in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The correlation between anxiety and depression with the DeMeester score is determined. GERD is a common gastrointestinal disorder that manifests as heartburn, regurgitation, retrosternal pain, cough, and dysphagia.

The interplay of personality pathology and treatment outcome in psychosomatic psychotherapy: A longitudinal analysis using latent change score modelling.

Introduction: While ample data demonstrate the effectiveness of inpatient psychosomatic treatment, clinical observation and empirical evidence demonstrate that not all patients benefit equally from established therapeutic methods. Especially patients with a comorbid personality disorder often show reduced therapeutic success compared to other patient groups. Due to the heterogeneous and categorical personality assessment, previous studies indicated no uniform direction of this influence.

[Mental distress of intensive care staff in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results from the VOICE study].

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic posed major challenges to the healthcare system worldwide and led to particular stress among healthcare workers. The aim of this analysis was to investigate the level of global mental stress of direct healthcare workers in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: In this prospective cross-sectional study with four measurement points (T1: 4-5/2020, T2:11/2020-1/2021, 5-7/2021, 2-5/2022), psychological distress symptoms were recorded in an online survey with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4) among hospital staff working in direct patient care (N = 5408 datasets).

Interaction of panic and episodic breathlessness among patients with life-limiting diseases: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Episodic breathlessness is often accompanied by panic. A vicious cycle of breathlessness-panic-breathlessness leads to emergencies with severe breathlessness and/or fear of dying. However, the interaction between episodic breathlessness and panic is poorly understood.

The multicenter effectiveness study of inpatient and day hospital treatment in departments of psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy in Germany.

Background: Reliable outcome data of psychosomatic inpatient and day hospital treatment with a focus on psychotherapy are important to strengthen ecological validity by assessing the reality of mental health care in the field. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of inpatient and day hospital treatment in German university departments of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy in a prospective, naturalistic, multicenter design including structured assessments.

Methods: Structured interviews were used to diagnose mental disorders according to ICD-10 and DSM-IV at baseline.

More than one way home - Student raters' impressions of interventions and group processes in mentalisation based group psychotherapy and group analytic psychotherapy.

In a study comparing mentalisation-based group therapy (MBT-G) and group analytic psychotherapy (GAP) in a day clinic, both group psychotherapy forms were found to be highly effective. But how did specific interventions and processes in both groups differ? The present article describes student raters impressions. Twelve psychology students listened to 100 audio recordings of 90 minutes group psychotherapy sessions of GAP and MBT-G.

[National Competence Network Contergan - Ensuring medical care for people with thalidomide embryopathy].

In 2021, a national network of multidisciplinary medical competence-centers has established itself in Germany that is committed to ensuring the care of people with thalidomide embryopathy. This article would like to draw attention to this competence network and give an overview of the most important medical care needs of aging people with thalidomide-induced body and sensory impairments. Here, the available scientific evidence and clinical peculiarities in medical care from a general medical-internal, orthopedic-paintherapeutic, sociomedical and psychosomatic-psychotherapeutic perspective will be presented and necessary tasks for the future will be discussed.

Health-related quality of life after 50 years in individuals with thalidomide embryopathy: Evidence from a German cross-sectional survey.

Background: As individuals with thalidomide embryopathy now reaching their 60's they undergo long-term sequelae of their prenatal damage and experience a wide range of secondary health problems, in particular chronic musculoskeletal pain, movement restrictions, and mental disorders. These health problems are having a negative impact on their life circumstances and their health-related quality of life (HRQOL).

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the HRQOL in individuals with thalidomide embryopathy in comparison to individuals of the age-adjusted general population in Germany with and without chronic disease conditions (primary outcome).

[Chronic Pain in People Impaired by Thalidomide Embryopathy: An Explorative Analysis of Prevalence, Pain Parameters and Biopsychosocial Factors].

Objective: The aim of the study was to show the frequency, localisation, intensity, quality and degree of chronic pain in people with thalidomide-induced congenital defects (thalidomide embryopathy) and to investigate the association with biopsychosocial factors more closely.

Methods: A group of 202 people from North Rhine-Westphalia with thalidomide embryopathy were studied for the first time both physically for the pattern of the original damage and also psychiatrically in a structured diagnostic interview (SCID I & SCID II). The results were combined with a standardized pain interview (MPSS) and questionnaires on further pain-related (SF-36, painDETECT) and sociodemographic variables and analysed.

[Psychotraumatological aspects in intensive care medicine].

In the context of intensive care medicine, patients, their relatives, and more infrequently members of the ICU team can be affected by potential trauma. Acute stress disorder often results. Psychological symptoms of critically ill patients should therefore be regularly screened in a standardized manner in order to be able to identify and treat patients with a high symptom burden.

[Psychotraumatological aspects in intensive care medicine].

In the context of intensive care medicine, patients, their relatives, and more infrequently members of the ICU team can be affected by potential trauma. Acute stress disorder often results. Psychological symptoms of critically ill patients should therefore be regularly screened in a standardized manner in order to be able to identify and treat patients with a high symptom burden.

Information needs in cancer patients across the disease trajectory. A prospective study.

Objective: As satisfaction with information received is an important precondition of adherence to treatment in cancer patients, we aimed to examine the level of perceived information, information satisfaction and information needs, and examine the prospective association between information satisfaction and anxiety.

Methods: In a multicenter study in Germany, 1398 cancer patients were evaluated in terms of this at baseline, after 6 and 12 months.

Results: At baseline, the majority of patients reported to feel well-informed.

Impact of social support on psychosocial symptoms and quality of life in cancer patients: results of a multilevel model approach from a longitudinal multicenter study.

This prospective multicenter study aimed to investigate the courses of positive support (PS) and detrimental interaction (DI), two different aspects of social support, and the relation between social support and psychosocial distress and/or health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a large sample of patients with different cancers. For this observational study, we enrolled adult patients with cancer from 13 comprehensive cancer centers (CCCs) in Germany. We included a total of 1087 patients in our analysis.

The course of cancer-related insomnia: don't expect it to disappear after cancer treatment.

Objective: The study aimed to examine the 12-month course of cancer-related insomnia (CRI) and to identify possible predictors for the prevalence and persistence of CRI.

Methods: This longitudinal multicenter study included N = 405 patients with cancer (56% females, mean age: 58.6 years).

Life situation of women impaired by Thalidomide embryopathy in North Rhine-Westphalia - a comparative analysis of a recent cross-sectional study with earlier data.

Background: Between 1957 and 1961 the substance Thalidomide was sold in West Germany and taken by many women as a sedative during pregnancy. This lead to miscarriages and infants been born with several severe malformations. The aim of this study was to describe the current situation of women impaired by Thalidomide induced embryopahty in North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen), Germany, in comparison with the results found in a study done in 2002 by Nippert et al.

[Upcoming challenges in providing care for thalidomide impaired individuals].

Upcoming challenges in providing care for thalidomide impaired individuals Between 1957 and 1962 an approximate 5000 children were born in Germany with severe birth defects as their mothers took the substance Thalidomide during pregnancy as a sedative and effective relief from morning sickness. The aim of this study was to describe the care and assistance needed by the individuals impaired by Thalidomide and indicate upcoming challenges. A further aim was to determine the association between the impairment type and the care needed.

[Co-Morbid Mental Disorders in Critical Care].

This article aims to provide an overview of the nature and extent, risk factors and treatment strategies of co-morbid mental disorders in the context of intensive care medicine. Depressive, anxious and posttraumatic syndromes as well as deliria are common phenomena in critical care patients, which correspond with the course and outcome of the underlying physical illness. The most important factors for the occurrence of mental comorbidity and general principles of care are described.

Psychosocial distress and utilization of professional psychological care in cancer patients: An observational study in National Comprehensive Cancer Centers (CCCs) in Germany.

Objective: The study aimed to assess cancer patients' use of psychological care and its correlates in a large sample of cancer patients in Comprehensive Cancer Centers (CCCs) in Germany.

Methods: In a multicenter study in Germany, cancer patients with various diagnoses were evaluated for self-reported use of psychological support. We measured psychological distress, depression and anxiety, quality of life, and social support with standardized questionnaires and analyzed its association with the utilization of psychological care using multivariable logistic regression.

[Comorbid Mental Disorders in Gastroenterology and Hepatology: Prevalence and Psychosocial Needs in Tertiary Care].

Background: In the field of gastroenterology and hepatology, associations and interactions with comorbid mental disorders are often described, but there is currently a lack of methodologically high-quality studies on prevalence and the need for care. The aim of the study was to take account of this shortcoming.

Methods: Prospective, monocentric, cross-sectional study of a representative sample of inpatients at a university hospital.

Mental Disorders in People Affected by Thalidomide.

Background: More than 50 years after the withdrawal of thalidomide from the market, subsequent orthopedic damages and psychosocial impairments dominate the complaints of thalidomide-affected individuals. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of mental disorders in this group.

Methods: A total of 193 thalidomide-affected individuals from North Rhine-Westphalia (mean age 50.