A COLLABORATIVE, INTEGRATIVE MENTAL HEALTH APPROACH: "THE STEPPED CARE MODEL.

Dear Editor, In this paper, it is aimed to raise awareness about the stepped care model as an approach in the organization of mental health services related to the protection, development, care and treatment of mental health. Concerning mental health, World Health Organization emphasizes that "Mental Health is more than mental disorders. It is a state of well-being that includes using one's own abilities, self-realization, coping with the stresses in the natural flow of life, learning to be well and trying to heal, working efficiently and contributing to the society in which they live.

[Prevalence of depressive symptoms, ways of coping, and related factors among medical school and health services higher education students].

Objective: The aims of this study were to explore the prevalence of depressive symptoms, ways of coping, and their relationships to sociodemographic variables among students of the Medical Faculty (MF) and the Health Services Higher Education School (HSHES) at Inönü University.

Method: The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Styles of Coping Inventory (SCI), and a sociodemographic questionnaire were used.

Results: Among the HSHES students (n = 128), the prevalence of depressive symptoms was higher.

[Patients' explanation models for their illness and help-seeking behavior].

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate some variables that affect patients' explanation models for their illness and help-seeking behavior.

Methods: Sampling was done between 2002 and 2003 among psychiatric patients who were admitted to university hospital in Malatya. Diagnoses of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder were made according to DSM-IV criteria.

Possible malignant neuroleptic syndrome that associated with hypothyroidism.

A 54-year-old woman with schizophrenia presented to hospital with unconsciousness, fever and marked muscle rigidity. She had been given fluphenazine decanoete 20 mg intramuscularly 15 days before the admission and she had continued taking haloperidol 20 mg daily and oral biperiden 2-4 mg. She was extremely rigid and unresponsive.

Sevoflurane as an alternative anaesthetic for electroconvulsive therapy.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of sevoflurane and propofol used in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on hemodynamic variables and duration of seizure activity and recovery profiles.

Methods: Sixteen patients who were not premedicated, with a mean age 27.1 years, were enrolled in this prospective open trial, receiving a total of 64 ECT treatments.

Psychiatric disorders and large interdialytic weight gain in patients on chronic haemodialysis.

Aims: Psychiatric disorders have been considered in terms of non-compliant behaviour and low life quality in haemodialysis patients. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential association of psychiatric disorders with compliance of fluid restriction and nutritional status and to measure the effects of psychiatric disorders on the life quality in chronic renal failure patients on haemodialysis.

Methods: The study was conducted between April 2002 and December 2002 at a University hospital haemodialysis unit.

[Family functioning in patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and epilepsy].

Objective: To evaluate the impact of illness progression on the family functioning of patients with schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and epilepsy showing chronic relapsing progress and affecting functionality.

Method: A total of 75 patients who were diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria as having schizophrenia (n: 25), bipolar affective disorder (n: 25) or epilepsy (n: 25) and their 134 family members were included in the study. A socio-demographical data form was completed by consulting the patient and family members, and a Family Assessment Device (FAD) was used.

Altered diurnal variation of nitric oxide production in patients with panic disorder.

The aim of this prospective study was to investigate the diurnal change in serum nitric oxide (NO) levels in active and remission phases of patients with panic disorder. This study included 15 patients fulfilling the criteria for panic disorder of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders--Fourth Edition and 15 healthy controls matched for age and sex. All patients were receiving a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor at therapeutic doses.

Weight gain and improvement with quetiapine in bipolar I disorder: a case report.

Observations made with quetiapine (QUET) in this case give clues for some aspects of its use for patients with bipolar disorder. Weight gain (11 kg; 16.6% increase in 21 weeks) and improvement in manic symptoms occurred after QUET add-on to lithium (Li).