The Amsterdam Studies of Acute Psychiatry - II (ASAP-II): a comparative study of psychiatric intensive care units in the Netherlands.

Background: The number of patients in whom mental illness progresses to stages in which acute, and often forced treatment is warranted, is on the increase across Europe. As a consequence, more patients are involuntarily admitted to Psychiatric Intensive Care Units (PICU). From several studies and reports it has become evident that important dissimilarities exist between PICU's.

Gender differences in clinical features of depressed outpatients: preliminary evidence for subtyping of depression?

Background: Gender differences in depression are usually associated with prevalence, severity, and sometimes with specific syndromes or subtypes. However, a lack of differentiation exists between these factors.

Aims: To disentangle depression severity and the specific items endorsed by men and women and thus explore the presence of gender-specific subtypes.

Short psychodynamic supportive psychotherapy, antidepressants, and their combination in the treatment of major depression: a mega-analysis based on three randomized clinical trials.

The efficacy of Short Psychodynamic Supportive Psychotherapy (SPSP) has not yet been compared with pharmacotherapy. A mega-analysis based on three original Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs) was performed. Patients with (mild to moderate) major depressive disorder were randomized in (24 weeks) SPSP (n = 97), pharmacotherapy (n = 45), or their combination (n = 171).

A symptom perception approach to common physical symptoms.

This study investigated variables assumed to influence the symptom perception process, as well as the sociodemographic variables of age, gender and socioeconomic status, regarding their relation to common physical symptoms. In addition, it ascertained the predictors of two symptom measurement methods (prospective and retrospective). A group of 152 men and women completed a standardized interview as well as several questionnaires and kept a diary for 4 weeks.