Cannabis arteritis: review of the literature.

Consumption of cannabis in young adults has continued to increase in recent years. Cannabis arteritis was first described in the 1960s, but the number of cases has continued to increase. We reviewed current knowledge of the different types of cannabis arteritis in young adults and found 70 cases of cannabis arteritis in the literature.

[Heart rate variability. Applications in psychiatry].

Background: The autonomic nervous system sends messages through the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system innervates the cardioaccelerating center of the heart, the lungs (increased ventilatory rhythm and dilatation of the bronchi) and the non-striated muscles (artery contraction). It releases adrenaline and noradrenaline.

Catatonia recognition and treatment.

Background: Catatonic syndrome is no longer considered a subtype of schizophrenia but is more frequently associated with mood disorders (mania, melancholia, and psychotic depression) as well as general medical conditions (neurological disorders, drug-induced and toxic-induced conditions, metabolic conditions). A case of catatonia is reported which occurred after alcohol withdrawal.

Case Report: Catatonia occurred 48 hours after alcohol withdrawal in a 54-year-old woman who had stopped all her treatment (in the context of a type II bipolar disorder).

[Addiction and brief-systemic therapy: working with compulsion].

In our daily practice in public hospitals, we are regularly confronted with the paradox of helping patients, who do not ask for help. Although the French law is clearly defined to allow us to treat patients suffering from psychiatric conditions, who are unable to give their consent, it is not the case for those with addictive disorders. In fact, their disorder does not always (or does not yet) justify treatment without their consent, according to the 1990 law (psychiatric treatment without the patient's consent).

[Therapeutic alliance, a stake in schizophrenia].

Introduction: Adherence to (or compliance with) a medication is one of the foremost issues in the assumption of patients with psychiatric illness and, in particular, in schizophrenia. Adherence to medication is generally defined as the extent to which patients take medications as prescribed by their health care providers. There is no consensus to define an acceptable compliance.

Impact of midwives' training on postnatal depression screening in the first week post delivery: a quality improvement report.

Background: postnatal depression (PND) is a major public health problem. The objective of this study was to improve early PND screening by midwives in a maternity unit. Professional screening techniques were evaluated and compared with reference screening techniques [Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI-DSM-IV)].

[Study on personality and psychiatric disorder in fibromyalgia].

Unlabelled: WORK INTEREST: To assess vulnerability factors of outpatients with fibromyalgia, by the evaluating prevalence of DSM-IV axis I disorders (mental disorders) and axis II disorders (personality disorders).

Methods: 30 outpatients with fibromyalgia were examined consecutively, and were administered the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV.

Results: The patients were found to have a high prevalence of DSM-IV axis I disorders (63,3% received a diagnosis of depressive and/or anxious disorder), and axis II disorders (46,7% received at least one diagnosis of personality disorder, including obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: 30%, borderline personality disorder: 16,7%, and depressive personality disorder: 16,7%).

Catatonia and systemic lupus erythematosus: a clinical study of three cases.

Catatonia may be encountered in psychiatric disorders, but also in general medical conditions. Cases of catatonia associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are rare. Several articles have described this symptomatic association, as well as its management, using electroconvulsive therapy, plasma exchange or benzodiazepines.

Directed forgetting in depression.

Subjects with depression exhibit deficits in prefrontal function. We posited that as a result, in a supraspan memory test, they would be impaired in their ability to inhibit recall of irrelevant words, and because of consequent overload of working and episodic memory capacity, would be impaired in their ability to recall relevant words. We tested this hypothesis in 30 inpatients and outpatients with a diagnosis of major depressive disorder and 30 controls subjects using a form of the Directed Forgetting Paradigm using exclusively neutral words.

Catatonia and consultation-liaison psychiatry study of 12 cases.

Nowadays, catatonia is no more considered as a subtype of schizophrenia. Catatonia seems more frequently associated to mood disorders as well as general medical conditions. It is sometimes difficult to associate formally a medical etiology to this syndrome.

Relationship between posttrauma GABA plasma levels and PTSD at 1-year follow-up.

Objective: Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) exerts a prominent effect on central adrenergic stress responses in times of high stress and has been associated with acute posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The authors examined the association between low posttrauma plasma GABA levels and long-term PTSD.

Method: Plasma GABA levels were measured in 78 victims of road traffic accidents who met criteria for trauma exposure on arrival at a trauma department and were admitted for at least 3 days.

[In favour of a systemic vision of liaison psychiatry].

One of the problems of consultation-liaison psychiatry is the absence of request of the patient. Indeed, the patients do not recognize their disorder and prefer to go to the emergency unit in a general hospital. Thus, we meet in the emergency unit or in medical unit (liaison psychiatry activity).

Predictive validation study of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale in the first week after delivery and risk analysis for postnatal depression.

Background: Postnatal depression is a major public health problem. The aim of this study is to validate the use of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) in the early postpartum, and to identify the markers for risk of postnatal depression.

Methods: 815 women filled out an EPDS and general information questionnaire between the third and the fifth day postpartum.

[Study on psychiatric disorders and defensive process assessed by the "defense style questionnaire" in sterile males SAMPLE consulting in andrology].

Background: The literature about artificial insemination and the associated psychological, psychiatric and sexual disorders is relatively rich. But the majority of these studies is made in gynaecology, with a feminine approach of the disorder. There are very few works led in andrology.

Directed forgetting in PTSD: a comparative study versus normal controls.

The most characteristic feature of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the reexperiencing syndrome. The patient's memory seems to be fixed on the traumatic event, which may be due to disturbance of the autobiographic memory. To retrieve memories, others have to be inhibited.

[Systemic lupus erythematosus presenting with recurrent psychiatric disturbances].

Introduction: There is a wide range of non-specific symptoms that can reveal neurolupus, sometimes making diagnosis difficult.

Observation: A 29-year-old man presented, from 1996 to 2002, three episodes of mood disorders with hetero-aggression, preceded by seizures, which resolved completely. Repeated investigations were negative except for lymphopenia, an inflammatory cerebrospinal fluid and some rare non-specific areas of high intensity signals in the white matter on the brain MRI.

[The early maladaptive schemas: a study in adult patients with anxiety disorders].

The theory of early maladaptive schemas was initiated by Young, who postulated that each pathology is supported by one or several schemas. Adults with anxiety disorders more activate schemas that controls. This hyper activate schemas would go back the childhood.

Low posttrauma GABA plasma levels as a predictive factor in the development of acute posttraumatic stress disorder.

Background: Gamma amino-butyric acid (GABA) regulates the intensity and the duration of the central hyperadrenergic response in times of high stress and has been negatively associated with anxiety, depression, and sleep problems. We hypothesized that individuals with low plasma GABA levels may be more prone to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the aftermath of trauma exposure.

Methods: To test this hypothesis, we measured plasma GABA levels in a population of 108 road traffic accident victims on arrival at a traumatology department and assessed them for PTSD 6 weeks later.

Fright (effroi) and other peritraumatic responses after a serious motor vehicle accident: prospective influence on acute PTSD development.

Objective: We prospectively examined the relation between various peritraumatic responses (that is, fear, helplessness, horror, amnesia, and fright) and the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 2 months after a trauma.

Method: Participants included 123 motor vehicle accident (MVA) victims consecutively hospitalized in a traumatology department for over 72 hours during a 16-month period. Between day 2 and day 5 of their hospitalization, a psychiatrist assessed the patients' peritraumatic responses and acute stress disorder (ASD).

SPECT imaging, clinical features, and cognition before and after low doses of amisulpride in schizophrenic patients with the deficit syndrome.

The aim of the study was to examine the action of low-dose amisulpride (100 mg/d), an atypical antipsychotic from the benzamide class with a high affinity for the D2 and D3 dopamine receptors, given for 4 weeks in 19 schizophrenic patients with the deficit syndrome, in terms of clinical response, modifications in their cognitive performance and changes in brain perfusion values. A secondary objective was to distinguish between primary and secondary deficit, according to Carpenter's definition. Both efficacy and a relatively low rate of side effects of low-dose amisulpride in the deficit forms of schizophrenia were found as expected from earlier placebo-controlled studies.