Frequency of psychiatric disorders in blepharospasm does not differ from hemifacial spasm.

Unlabelled: Dias FM, Doyle F, Kummer A, Cardoso F, Fontenelle LF, Teixeira AL. Frequency of psychiatric disorders in blepharospasm does not differ from hemifacial spasm.

Objective: To compare the frequency of psychiatric disorders and the severity of psychiatric symptoms between patients with blepharospasm (BS) and hemifacial spasm (HS).

Is there evidence of brain white-matter abnormalities in obsessive-compulsive disorder?: a narrative review.

Objective: Although several studies have confirmed the occurrence of gray-matter abnormalities in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the literature on white matter in OCD is more limited. In this study, we reviewed the role of white-matter abnormalities in the pathophysiology of OCD.

Method: We reviewed the PubMed studies investigating white-matter integrity in patients with OCD between 1980 and 2010.

Dementia developing in late-onset and treatment-refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: Although several studies have been conducted in an attempt to characterize the phenotype and underlying pathophysiology of individuals with early-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the literature on patients who develop OCD later in life remains sparse.

Objective: To describe clinical outcomes in the 7-year follow-up of a patient with late-onset OCD.

Method: Single case report.

A 2010 evidence-based algorithm for the pharmacotherapy of social anxiety disorder.

A growing evidence base on the management of social anxiety disorder has yielded many meta-analyses and guidelines on the pharmacotherapy of this clinically important condition. We aimed to update a pharmacotherapy algorithm for the treatment of social anxiety disorder that was developed to be concise and user friendly and that was addressed to the primary care practitioner in particular. The updated algorithm attempts to summarize succinctly the recent literature in this area, as well as to include the views of an international panel of experts with diverse experience.

West syndrome: early remission is not assurance of normal final outcome.

Background: West syndrome (WS), an age-specific epilepsy of infancy and early childhood, considered of poor prognosis, may have remission. With the objective of describing the clinical features, treatment and outcome of the children with WS followed in a Latin American country, we devised a retrospective study.

Methods: Infants with recurrent spasms, and typical or atypical hypsarrhythmia on electroencephalography (EEG) were included, and their medical report reviewed with particular interest on therapy (anti-epileptic drug, steroids) and outcome.

Quality of life and symptom dimensions of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of different dimensions of obsessive-compulsive symptoms, of co-morbid anxious depressive symptoms, and of sociodemographic characteristics on the quality of life of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). We evaluated 53 patients with OCD and 53 age- and gender-matched individuals from the community with a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnosis of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth Edition, (DSM-IV), the Short-Form Health Survey-36 (SF-36), the Saving Inventory-Revised, the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised, the Beck Depression Inventory and the Beck Anxiety Inventory. A series of stepwise linear regression analyses were performed, having the SF-36 dimensions as the dependent variables and the sociodemographic and clinical features as the independent ones.

The Brazilian Portuguese version of the Saving Inventory-Revised: internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and validity of a questionnaire to assess hoarding.

Pathological hoarding results in clutter that precludes normal activities and creates distress or dysfunction. It may lead to an inability to complete household functions, health problems, social withdrawal, and even death. The aim of this study was to describe the validation of the Brazilian version of the hoarding assessment instrument, the Saving Inventory-Revised.

[The concept of insight in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder].

Objective: To update clinicians regarding the existence of a putative subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder based on poor insight.

Method: Opinionative review based on studies indexed in the PubMed and PsychINFO databases, identified by means of the keywords 'obsessive-compulsive disorder' AND 'insight' OR 'ego-syntonic', and published between 1966 and October 2009. The results were analyzed according to the approach adopted, i.

Management of obsessive-compulsive disorder with fluvoxamine extended release.

The pharmacodynamic properties of fluvoxamine maleate include the modulation of different populations of serotonergic, dopaminergic, and sigma receptors and/or transporters, a complex pattern of activity that may account for its efficacy in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Nevertheless, its pharmacokinetic profile and its pattern of side effects may hinder a rapid dose escalation, a therapeutic strategy that might be utterly desirable in patients with OCD. In preclinical studies, the maximum plasma concentration and bioavailability of an extended-release (CR) formulation of fluvoxamine were, respectively, 38% and 16% lower than those of the standard (ie, non-CR) formulation.

Eating disorders in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder: prevalence and clinical correlates.

Objective: The objective is to evaluate the prevalence and associated clinical characteristics of eating disorders (ED) in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

Method: This is a cross-sectional study comparing 815 patients with OCD. Participants were assessed with structured interviews and scales: SCID-I, Y-BOCS, Dimensional Y-BOCS, BABS, Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories.

Short-lived response of cervical dystonia to electroconvulsive therapy.

Cervical dystonia (CD) or spasmodic torticollis is the most frequent form of focal dystonia. Cervical dystonia is characterized by sustained neck spasms, abnormal head posture, head tremor, and pain. A 53-year-old male patient with the diagnosis of CD developed an episode of delusional depression and was treated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

Pharmacologic alternatives to antidepressants in posttraumatic stress disorder: a systematic review.

The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are considered the first-line pharmacological treatment for PTSD. However, even when treated with this class of drugs, response rates rarely exceed 60% and less than 20-30% of the patients achieve full remission. The aim of this study was to address this limitation by systematically reviewing the options left for the treatment of PTSD when patients do not respond satisfactorily to or tolerate SSRIs.

The Syndrome of Irreversible Lithium-Effectuated Neurotoxicity (SILENT): one-year follow-up of a single case.

In this article, we report the case history of a 44-year-old female patient with bipolar disorder who developed the so-called Syndrome of Irreversible Lithium-Effectuated Neurotoxicity (SILENT). A detailed description of our patient's neurologic status is provided at baseline (i.e.

Pareidolias in obsessive-compulsive disorder: neglected symptoms that may respond to serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a multifaceted and treatable condition. We describe a patient with OCD whose main complaint was the experience of pareidolias (i.e.

The Brazilian Research Consortium on Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders: recruitment, assessment instruments, methods for the development of multicenter collaborative studies and preliminary results.

Objective: To describe the recruitment of patients, assessment instruments, implementation, methods and preliminary results of The Brazilian Research Consortium on Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders, which includes seven university sites.

Method: This cross-sectional study included a comprehensive clinical assessment including semi-structured interviews (sociodemographic data, medical and psychiatric history, disease course and comorbid psychiatric diagnoses), and instruments to assess obsessive-compulsive (Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale and Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale), depressive (Beck Depression Inventory) and anxious (Beck Anxiety Inventory) symptoms, sensory phenomena (Universidade de São Paulo Sensory Phenomena Scale), insight (Brown Assessment Beliefs Scale), tics (Yale Global Tics Severity Scale) and quality of life (Medical Outcome Quality of Life Scale Short-form-36 and Social Assessment Scale). The raters' training consisted of watching at least five videotaped interviews and interviewing five patients with an expert researcher before interviewing patients alone.

Empathy and symptoms dimensions of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often display cognitions and/or behaviors that may well reflect the existence of "hyper-attachment" to different environmental elements, including their offspring, family members, divine entities, or even inanimate objects. Based on the fact that both OCD symptoms and physiologic interpersonal attachment mechanisms involve overlapping ventral fronto-limbic circuits, we hypothesized that there is a relationship between empathy, evaluated with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), and OCD symptom dimensions. We evaluated 53 patients with OCD and 53 age- and sex-matched individuals from the community with the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnosis of DSM-IV axis I disorders, the Saving Inventory-Revised, the IRI (composed of four sub-scales), the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory - Revised, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Beck Anxiety Inventory.

Volitional disorders: a proposal for DSM-V.

In the DSM-IV-TR, specific impulse control disorders not elsewhere classified (ICD) have been designated following four principles: (1) through the addition of an adjective that emphasizes the aberrant character of an otherwise normal behaviour (e.g., pathological gambling); (2) by means of metaphors (such as in intermittent explosive disorder); (3) according to the presumably quintessential nature of their main signs and symptoms, such as impulsive (e.