A cross-sectional study of burnout and its associations with learning environment and learner factors among psychiatry residents within a National Psychiatry Residency Programme.

Background: Multiple studies have reported high burnout rates among residents, including psychiatry. There is a paucity of studies examining the relationship between burnout and learning context, stress levels, resilience, stigma in healthcare providers and coping methods concurrently within the same cohort.

Objective: We examined the rate of burnout among our psychiatry residents in a cross-sectional study and hypothesised that burnout is associated with poorer perception of learning environment, greater perceived stress, stigma levels, lower resilience and specific coping strategies during training.

Electroconvulsive practice in Singapore: a cross-sectional national survey.

Introduction: The use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in Singapore dates back to 1947. However, there is little local information on the clinical practice of ECT and its standards. We aimed to conduct a comprehensive national survey of ECT practice in Singapore.

Cognitive complaints and predictors of perceived cognitive dysfunction in adults with major depressive disorder: Findings from the Cognitive Dysfunction in Asians with Depression (CogDAD) study.

Background: Several studies have described the presence of perceived cognitive dysfunction amongst Asian patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). To date, no study has been conducted investigating the predictors of perceived cognitive dysfunction amongst Asian MDD patients.

Methods: This was a post-hoc analysis of the Cognitive Dysfunction in Asian patients with Depression (CogDAD) study.

Cognitive Dysfunction in Asian Patients with Depression (CogDAD): A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Cognitive dysfunction is a predominant symptom of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), contributing to functional impairment.

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to assess and describe perceived cognitive dysfunction amongst Asian patients diagnosed with MDD. The secondary objective was to explore the associations between depression severity, perceived cognitive dysfunction and functional disability.

Alcohol Use Disorders amongst Inpatients in a General Hospital in Singapore: Estimated Prevalence, Rates of Identification and Intervention.

Introduction: Many alcohol-related problems often go undetected and untreated. In Singapore, no epidemiological studies have been done in general hospitals on alcohol use disorders (AUD), i.e.

Transcranial direct current stimulation to enhance cognition in euthymic bipolar disorder.

Objectives: To investigate the use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for enhancing working memory and sustained attention in euthymic patients with bipolar disorder.

Methods: Fifteen patients with bipolar disorder received anodal left prefrontal tDCS with an extracephalic cathode (prefrontal condition), anodal left prefrontal and cathodal cerebellar tDCS (fronto-cerebellar condition), and sham tDCS given 'online' during performance on a working memory and sustained attention task in an intra-individual, cross-over, sham-controlled experimental design. Exploratory cluster analyses examined responders and non-responders for the different active tDCS conditions on both tasks.

Thyroid Autoimmune Antibodies and Major Depressive Disorder in Women.

Introduction: Anti-thyroid antibodies are associated with extra-thyroid diseases such as Graves' ophthalmopathy and Hashimoto's encephalopathy. Some evidence suggests that anti-thyroid antibodies are also associated with depression. Interleukin (IL)-17 appears to play an important role in autoimmune thyroid disease.

Insomnia in the community.

Insomnia is the most common sleep complaint encountered in primary care. It affects both the individual and society through the burden of medical, psychiatric, interpersonal and social consequences. The management of patients affected by insomnia depends on the accurate diagnosis of the condition, consideration of the possible aetiologies, the duration of the insomnia and its impact on both the individual and society.

Pharmacological treatment approaches to difficult-to-treat depression.

In the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) trial of almost 3000 patients with depression in the United States, 50% responded to the initial trial of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant, but only a third achieved remission (nil or minimal depressive symptoms). The final remission rate, even after four potential treatment steps, was only 70%. This finding reflects the reality of clinical practice and highlights the need to employ the best available evidence in the management of people with complex depression.

Augmenting transcranial direct current stimulation with (D)-cycloserine for depression: a pilot study.

Objectives: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive brain stimulation technique that causes changes in cortical excitability. Recent double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trials suggest that tDCS may be efficacious in the treatment of depression. Pharmacological agents that prolong the effects of tDCS could lead to greater cumulative changes in cortical excitability, producing greater and more prolonged efficacy.

Reduced inferior frontal gyrus activation during response inhibition to emotional stimuli in youth at high risk of bipolar disorder.

Background: Functional brain imaging of young people at increased genetic risk for bipolar disorder provides a means of identifying potential endophenotypes for this condition. Dysfunctional neural mechanisms for the cognitive control of emotion are implicated in the genetic predisposition to bipolar disorder, with aberrant activity in frontocortical, striatal, and limbic brain regions previously reported in subjects with established bipolar disorder during inhibitory and emotion processing tasks.

Methods: Functional brain activity during inhibition of emotional material in young people at increased genetic risk for bipolar disorder was investigated using a facial-emotion go/no-go task during functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Correlates and outcomes of depressed out-patients with greater and fewer anxious symptoms: a CO-MED report.

The objective of this paper was to determine whether the presence of more vs. fewer anxious symptom features, at baseline, are associated with other clinical features and treatment outcomes in out-patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). This single-blind, randomized trial enrolled 665 MDD out-patients to compare the efficacy of two antidepressant medication combinations against escitalopram after 12-wk acute treatment and follow-up (total 28 wk).

Use of antidepressants in the treatment of chronic pain.

There is a high prevalence of chronic pain disorders in the population and the individual and societal costs are large. Antidepressants have been used in the treatment of chronic pain and the pain-relieving effects are independent of the mood-elevating properties. We reviewed randomised-controlled trials, systematic reviews and meta-analyses of antidepressants in the treatment of chronic pain disorders which were identified through searches of MEDLINE and EMBASE.