Maintenance electroconvulsive therapy for a neuroleptic-intolerant patient with disorganized schizophrenia.

Owing to unresolved questions concerning the efficacy and safety of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the treatment of schizophrenia, and widespread negative attitudes toward ECT, maintenance ECT (mECT) is generally considered only as a last resort. Nevertheless, in some clinical situations, the advantages of mECT may outweigh the risks and associated concerns. We report the case of a patient suffering from disorganized schizophrenia who had life-threatening hematological side effects to treatment with antipsychotic agents.

Nonmedication smoking reduction program for inpatients with chronic schizophrenia: a randomized control design study.

People with schizophrenia are more likely to smoke, and to smoke more frequently, than those without schizophrenia. Furthermore, inpatients smoke even more frequently compared with those living in the community. In light of this, we implemented and assessed a smoking reduction intervention using a wide array of behavioral group techniques and methods in chronic hospitalized schizophrenic clients.

Responsibility of the therapist for the patients' actions (Tarasoff Rules): position of the psychiatrists.

Background And Aims: Patient confidentiality and the therapists responsibility to society may present a challenge in the therapeutic relationship between the psychiatrist and the patient. We examined the attitudes of Israeli psychiatrists concerning the duty to warn and protect according to the Tarasoff Rule.

Methods: Questionnaires to examine psychiatrists opinions concerning the implementation of the Tarasoff Rule in Israel were sent to senior psychiatrists involved in forensic psychiatry for anonymous completion.

Benign and time-limited visual disturbances (flashbacks) in recent abstinent high-potency heavy cannabis smokers: a case series study.

Eight high-potency heavy cannabis smokers who fulfilled DSM-IV-TR criteria for cannabis dependence sought treatment for outpatient detoxification. During routine psychiatric interview they reported the presence of visual disturbances when intoxicated and no prior history of LSD use. They all communicated the persistence of visual disturbances after ceasing cannabis use.

Effect of antiviral amantadine treatment on elderly chronic schizophrenia patients.

Background: In compliance with public health measures initiated by the Israel Ministry of Health following an outbreak of influenza, amantadine was administered to all patients in the psychogeriatric department of Lev Hasharon Mental Health Center to reduce transmission and illness severity in this susceptible population.

Objectives: To evaluate the potential beneficial effects of amantadine on elderly hospitalized patients with persistent schizophrenia.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective case review of the treatment effects of amantadine on the mental, cognitive and clinical states of elderly chronic schizophrenic patients who received concomitant amantadine treatment and were routinely evaluated with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, the Mini Mental State Examination, and Sandoz Clinical Assessment Geriatric Scale.

Security and psychiatry: the British experience and implications for forensic psychiatry services in Israel.

The courts have recently become increasingly involved in the administration of compulsory psychiatric services in Israel. Data reveal a gradual increase in the rate of court-ordered hospitalizations according to Section 15 of the Law for the Treatment of the Mentally Ill. This paper examines the implications of this trend, particularly the issues of security and safety in psychiatric hospitalization.

Revolving-door patients in a public psychiatric hospital in Israel: cross sectional study.

AIM. To study social, demographic, clinical, and forensic profiles of frequently re-hospitalized (revolving-door) psychiatric patients. METHODS.

Psychosocial remission in schizophrenia: developing a clinician-rated scale.

Background: There is a growing awareness of the importance of psychosocial factors incorporated in treatment goals in schizophrenic patients. Remission, both symptomatic and psychosocial, is now an achievable goal in a substantial proportion of patients. Thus, the development of handy tools to quantify outcomes is called for.

Risk factors for the development of posttraumatic stress disorder following combat trauma: a semiprospective study.

Objective: When positioned in a combat situation, soldiers may be subjected to extreme stress. However, only a few combat-exposed soldiers develop long-term disturbance, namely, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study aimed to explore risk factors for developing PTSD in order to improve the psychiatric screening process of new recruits.

Ethical and Scientific Perspectives of Placebo-controlled Trials in Schizophrenia.

Unlabelled: Clinical trials for development of new medications are essential in all fields of medicine. The requirement for a placebo arm in pharmaceutical trials presents ethical and clinical dilemmas that are especially complicated with regard to mentally ill persons whose free choice and ability to provide informed consent may be questionable. On the other hand, we do not believe that this predicament justifies unconditional rejection of placebo use in psychiatry, when the investigational drug may ultimately provide substantial benefit for some patients.

The psychological toll of the Intifada: symptoms of distress and coping in Israeli soldiers.

Background: Detrimental effects of military service among the civilian Palestinian population have been reported in soldiers.

Objectives: To examine the frequency and type of stressors encountered by soldiers in close contact with the CPP and its relationship with post-traumatic symptomatology. We also investigated coping methods and the preferred types of professional help.

[Decision-making concerning guardianship--who is the "person that no longer has the capacity to make decisions regarding personal matters"?].

Appointment of a guardian is a complicated and important process, when necessary. It is a paternalistic intervention in the life of an individual, which aims to protect those who require that protection. Appointment of a guardian significantly impedes the rights and autonomy of the individual and should therefore remain a last resort.

Multi-modal weight control intervention for people with persistent mental disorders.

Obesity, a major problem worldwide, is more prevalent among people with schizophrenia. This study examined the effect of behavior intervention, nutritional information and physical exercise on the body mass index (BMI) and weight of people who were hospitalized with persistent DSM-IV schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders. Fifty nine inpatients with a BMI greater than 25 participated, (28 intervention group; 31 control group).

The civil liability for damages of the criminally insane.

As a rule, mentally ill patients are held to be responsible for their acts just like everyone else. Notwithstanding, the law in Israel contains special rules which distinguish individuals with mental illness from other people. The instructions laid out in article 34h of the Israeli Penal Law empower the court to release a defendant from criminal responsibility.

Psychiatric inpatient and staff attitudes regarding smoking reduction.

Aims: We assessed the interest of psychiatric inpatients and the staff in a smoking reduction program.

Methods: Inpatients, nurses, social workers and psychologists at a university-affiliated psychiatric hospital completed questionnaires addressing attitudes towards smoking and the desire to reduce smoking.

Results: 52% of the inpatients (N = 160) and 37.

Israeli psychiatric inpatients go to the polls.

In 1996, mobile polls were introduced in Israel, enabling physically and emotionally ill inpatients to vote. We surveyed the rate of participation of inpatients at Lev-Hasharon Mental Health Center in parliamentary elections, their feelings regarding voting, and the nature of their vote, compared with the general population. One hundred eighteen of 306 (38.

Neurocognitive deterioration in elderly chronic schizophrenia patients with and without PTSD.

Neurocognitive deficits are associated with chronic schizophrenia and aging. We investigated whether elderly chronic schizophrenia inpatients who also suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have more severe cognitive impairment than elderly schizophrenia inpatients that do not. Fourteen schizophrenia inpatients that are Holocaust survivors and suffer from PTSD (survivor group) were compared with schizophrenia inpatients not exposed to the holocaust and without PTSD (comparison group) using neurocognitive assessments and psychiatric evaluation instruments.

Foreign objects in the vagina of a mentally ill woman: case series.

Objective: Reports of the insertion of foreign objects to the vagina by psychiatric patients are scant. We present two such cases.

Methods: Case I resulted from psychotic content and auditory command hallucinations.

Longitudinal study of acute stress disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder and dissociation following myocardial infarction.

Since dissociation has been recognized as a marker of posttraumatic processes, this study examines the chronological relations between dissociation and stress reactions (acute stress disorder, ASD, and posttraumatic stress disorder, PTSD) following myocardial infarction (MI). One hundred sixteen MI patients were examined twice: within 1 week of the trauma (time 1) and 7 months later (time 2). Sixty-seven matched controls were studied in a parallel interval.