Gender, age at onset, and duration of being ill as predictors for the long-term course and outcome of schizophrenia: an international multicenter study.

Background: The aim of the current study was to explore the effect of gender, age at onset, and duration on the long-term course of schizophrenia.

Methods: Twenty-nine centers from 25 countries representing all continents participated in the study that included 2358 patients aged 37.21 ± 11.

Telepsychiatry and Telepsychotherapy: Critical Issues Faced by Indian Patients and Psychiatrists.

Telepsychiatry and telepsychotherapy are new treatment modalities that have been used more than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are many challenges that are faced with the use of this modality for both patients and psychiatrists alike. There are critical issues faced with regard to the development of rapport, managing the entire teleconsultation set up, privacy and issues related to fees, issues related to prescribing and monitoring, and issues while handling emergencies.

Modeling psychological function in patients with schizophrenia with the PANSS: an international multi-center study.

Background: The aim of the current study was to explore the changing interrelationships among clinical variables through the stages of schizophrenia in order to assemble a comprehensive and meaningful disease model.

Methods: Twenty-nine centers from 25 countries participated and included 2358 patients aged 37.21 ± 11.

Resilience as a Psychopathological Construct for Psychiatric Disorders.

Understanding of the psychopathology of various psychiatric disorders is evolving, with newer avenues of research enlightening us from genetics, epigenetics, functional neurobiology, neural circuits, hormones and social/environmental determinants. We are now aware that neurobiological factors are contributing to the development of psychiatric illnesses coupled with their interaction with psychosocial factors. Resilience is defined as the ability to bounce back after an adversity or life event that was traumatic and life-changing.

Staging of Schizophrenia With the Use of PANSS: An International Multi-Center Study.

Introduction: A specific clinically relevant staging model for schizophrenia has not yet been developed. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the factor structure of the PANSS and develop such a staging method.

Methods: Twenty-nine centers from 25 countries contributed 2358 patients aged 37.

Mental Hospitals in India: Reforms for the future.

Mental hospitals are an integral part of mental health services in India. It is an interesting story how mental hospitals have responded to the challenges of contemporary period they were built in. It is beyond doubt that it is a progressive journey along with advances in mental health both in India and internationally.

Child sexual abuse and the development of psychiatric disorders: a neurobiological trajectory of pathogenesis.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is an important public health problem with long-standing neurobiological, developmental, and psychiatric abnormalities. The present review analyzes the long-term effects of CSA from a developmental, psychiatric morbidity, neurochemical and neurobiological perspective and then tries to posit a developmental neurobiological trajectory from CSA to the genesis of psychopathology in later life. The role of various neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine affected by CSA are discussed.

Resilience: A psychobiological construct for psychiatric disorders.

Understanding of psychopathology of mental disorder is evolving, particularly with availability of newer insight from the field of genetics, epigenetics, social, and environmental pathology. It is now becoming clear how biological factors are contributing to development of an illness in the face of a number of psychosocial factors. Resilience is a psychobiological factor which determines individual's response to adverse life events.

Clozapine response and pre-treatment EEG-is there some kind of relationship.

Background: Clozapine has been used widely in the management of treatment-resistant schizophrenia. The present study aims at determining whether pre-treatment electroencephalography (EEG) abnormalities would serve as a marker for response to clozapine treatment.

Subjects And Methods: This was a cross-sectional study done in a tertiary care center in Mumbai where patients diagnosed with schizophrenia using DSM-IV criteria and resistant schizophrenia using Kane criteria were assessed using EEG prior to starting clozapine treatment.

Cannabis and psychosis: Neurobiology.

Cannabis is a known risk factor for schizophrenia, although the exact neurobiological process through which the effects on psychosis occur is not well-understood. In this review, we attempt to develop and discuss a possible pathway for the development of psychosis. We examine the neurobiological changes due to cannabis to see if these changes are similar to those seen in schizophrenic patients the findings show similarities; however, these mere similarities cannot establish a 'cause-effect' relationship as a number of people with similar changes do not develop schizophrenia.

Clinical risk of stigma and discrimination of mental illnesses: Need for objective assessment and quantification.

Stigma and discrimination continue to be a reality in the lives of people suffering from mental illness, particularly schizophrenia, and prove to be one of the greatest barriers to regaining a normal lifestyle and health. Research advances have defined stigma and assessed its implications and have even examined intervention strategies for dealing with stigma. We are of the opinion that stigma is a potential clinical risk factor.

Polypharmacy in psychiatry: a review.

Psychiatric polypharmacy refers to the prescription of two or more psychiatric medications concurrently to a patient. It can be categorised as same-class, multi-class, adjunctive, augmentation and total polypharmacy. Despite advances in psychopharmacology and a better understanding of the principles of therapeutics, its practice is increasing rapidly.

Pathways to psychosis in cannabis abuse.

Cannabis has been implicated as a risk factor for the development of schizophrenia, but the exact biological mechanisms remain unclear. In this review, we attempt to understand the neurobiological pathways that link cannabis use to schizophrenia. This has been an area of great debate; despite similarities between cannabis users and schizophrenia patients, the evidence is not sufficient to establish cause-and-effect.

Atypical antipsychotics usage in long-term follow-up of first episode schizophrenia.

Background: It is not clear if the role of antipsychotics in long-term clinical and functional recovery from schizophrenia is correlated. The pattern of use is a major aspect of pharmacotherapy in long-term follow-ups of schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to examine patterns of antipsychotic usage in patients with longstanding psychosis and their relationship to social outcomes.

Baseline serum prolactin in drug-naive, first-episode schizophrenia and outcome at five years: is it a predictive factor?

Objective: Serum prolactin is influenced by antipsychotic use but its relationships with psychopathology and general functioning are not clear. This study aimed to assess these relationships.

Design: Serum prolactin levels were measured in patients with schizophrenia before being treated with antipsychotics and at various follow-up points.

Stigma of Mental Illness-2: Non-compliance and Intervention.

The consequences of stigma are preventable. We argue that individual attention should be provided to patients when dealing with stigma. Also, in order to deal with the impact of stigma on an individual basis, it needs to be assessed during routine clinical examinations, quantified and followed up to observe whether or not treatment can reduce its impact.

Stigma of Mental Illness-1: Clinical reflections.

Although the quality and effectiveness of mental health treatments and services have improved greatly over the past 50 years, therapeutic revolutions in psychiatry have not yet been able to reduce stigma. Stigma is a risk factor leading to negative mental health outcomes. It is responsible for treatment seeking delays and reduces the likelihood that a mentally ill patient will receive adequate care.