[Spectrum of neuropsychiatric features associated with velocardiofacial syndrome (Deletion 22q11.2)].

Microdeletion 22q11.2 (22q11DS) is the most frequent chromosomal deletion known in man. Velocardiofacial syndrome is one of numerous clinical syndromes that can be attributed to this micro deletion.

Treatment concepts of day hospitals for general psychiatric patients. Findings from a national survey in Germany.

Psychiatric day hospital treatment concepts have to deal with a wide spectrum of mental disorders. We raised the question, if day hospitals can be differentiated concerning their treatment concepts and if so how much this is reflected in their structural and procedural features. In 1999 a survey was initiated concerning structure, concept and method of treatment in psychiatric day hospitals for adults in Germany.

Basal ganglia calcification and psychosis in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.

Intracerebral calcifications are a facultative symptom of hypoparathyreoidism in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22qDS). We describe a patient with 22qDS, basal ganglia calcification (BGC) and psychotic symptoms and discuss the etiological connection of BGC with psychiatric symptoms.

Lycanthropy--psychopathological and psychodynamical aspects.

Objective: The imagination of being transformed into an animal or being an animal is called lycanthropy. The phenomenon is presented and psychodynamical aspects are discussed.

Method: A literature review forms the base of this discussion of a psychopathological phenomenon.

The development of a clinical syndrome of asymptomatic pancreatitis and eosinophilia after treatment with clozapine in schizophrenia: implications for clinical care, recognition and management.

Clozapine, the first atypical antipsychotic, is indicated for the treatment of therapy-resistant schizophrenia. It needs to be monitored closely because of its well-known potential side-effects, especially agranulocytosis. We present a case of a middle-aged woman with chronic schizophrenia, who was treated with clozapine and developed a clinical syndrome of asymptomatic pancreatitis and eosinophilia within the fifth week of treatment.

[Erotomania and Frégoli syndrome. A case report].

A case report of a female schizophrenic patient is presented who showed a coincidence of erotomania and Frégoli syndrome with some interesting symptom constellations only rarely mentioned in the literature. Organic and psychodynamic factors were found in the etiopathogenesis of this disorder. A combination of psychotherapy and neuroleptic therapy was partly successful.

[Paranoia with late onset. Psychopathology and psychodynamics].

We report on a 70-year-old man who suffered from persecutory delusions during the last 20 years. During first visits, he showed neither cognitive impairment nor Schneiderian first rank symptoms. Inpatient and day clinic treatment as well as further outpatient therapy led to reintegration into social life and trusting relationships between the patient and the therapeutic team, although the persecutory delusions still persisted.

Social inequality in the utilization of in- and outpatient treatment of non-psychotic/non-organic disorders: a study with health insurance data.

Background: This study deals with the utilization of in- and outpatient care due to non-psychotic/non-organic disorders (ICD-9 300-307: neuroses, personality disorders, sexual disturbances, alcohol and substance dependencies, drug abuse and functional disorders). Specifically, it examines whether social gradients to the detriment of individuals from lower social positions appear. This is dealt with both in terms of in- and outpatient treatment.

[Unplanned discharge in a psychiatric day clinic - argument for an individualized approach].

Objective: Drop-outs, respectively unplanned discharges in psychiatric therapy are often explained by so-called lack of insight into the disease or difficult circumstances of admission. We were interested in the question how often drop outs are noticed in a voluntarily day clinic setting where nearly all psychiatric diseases are treated.

Method: The charts of all patients discharged in 1998 (n = 65) were screened referring to their mode of discharge.

[Lycanthropy-zooanthropism--discussion of a psychopathological phenomenon].

The belief to be transformed into an animal is named Lycanthropy. "Zooanthropismus" is the German equivalent. Three case reports raised the question how this phenomenon, in our cases to be transformed into a frog, a bee or a wolf/dog, can be interpreted in a psychopathological and diagnostic regard.

[Psychosocial competence of general practitioners in managing psychiatric patients: initial results of a questionnaire study].

Objective: Given the frequency of patients with psychosocial problems and mental disorders in primary care our study focuses on the relationship between the psychosocial qualifications of general practitioners and their management of these patients.

Method: A questionnaire was sent to all general practitioners in Hessen asking for sociodemographic and profession-related data as well as their psychosocial competence and their procedure during a regular day in practice. Based on 396 questionnaires we compared five groups of general practitioners with different psychosocial qualifications, proportionate incidence of diagnoses, medical procedures and referrals to specialists and hospitals.

[Coping behaviors in Parkinson's disease].

In 45 patients with Parkinson's disease, we investigated coping behavior and its correlations to demographic and disease-related data, locus of control, depression, and psychosocial adaptation. Active, problem oriented, and self-reorganizing strategies were predominantly used and regarded as especially helpful by the 27 men and 18 women (age: 56 years; duration of illness: 9 years). While age and sex were not associated with coping, external locus of control correlated positively to "depressive coping" and duration of illness correlated negatively to "distraction and self-affirmation.

[Origins of dialogue: phenomenological theories of intersubjectivity in developmental perspectives and as a foundation of psychotherapeutic processes].

Recognizing the other with his/her psychic peculiarity is an important assumption for psychotherapy. But how is empathy possible? Answers are to be expected by phenomenological-philosophical approaches concerning intersubjectivity and infant research. They are described in a comprehensive way and related to each other in spite of their epistemological differences.

Coping with Parkinson's disease and refractory epilepsy. A comparative study.

Coping strategies and their correlations with demographic and illness related data, depression, locus of control, and psychosocial adaptation were investigated in 45 patients with Parkinson's disease and 40 patients with intractable epilepsy. Three standardized self-report questionnaires were applied: the Freiburg Questionnaire of Coping with Illness (FKV), the von Zerssen Depression Scale (D-S), and the IPC-questionnaire measuring generalized locus of control beliefs. The Social Interview Schedule (SIS), a semi-structured interview, was used to measure psychosocial adaptation.

[Which patients participate in exercise therapy? An empirical study of a psychiatric clinic].

Objective: The aim of our study is to find out in which clinical and sociodemographic parameters patients who take part in kinetic therapy and those, who don't, differ.

Methods: 38 patients of a psychiatric university clinic who regularly took part in movement therapy were compared with 32 patients who did not.

Results: The participants had a higher level of education, obtained fewer psychotropic drugs and were assessed as slightly less impaired by their disorder.

Reliability of biographical data, their relations to personality variables and their influence on life-events.

Background: First, this study aims to investigate the reliability of biographical and personality data, i.e. analysing the impact of depressive mood on these variables.

Coping with refractory epilepsy.

We investigated the coping behaviour and its correlation with demographic and illness-related data, depression, locus of control and psychosocial adaptation in 40 patients with intractable epilepsy with primarily or secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Three standardized self-reporting questionnaires were applied, which are the Freiburg Questionnaire of Coping with Illness (FKV), the von Zerssen Depression Scale (D-S), and the IPC-questionnaire measuring generalized locus of control beliefs; the Social Interview Schedule (SIS), a semi-structured interview, was used to measure the psychosocial adaptation. Active, problem-focused and compliance strategies were predominantly used and regarded as most helpful.

[Coercive measures in psychiatry. Restraint on psychiatric units of the Hannover Medical University].

Following a short review of some studies from Germany and Switzerland on coercive measures in psychiatry a retrospective investigation of restraints in the two psychiatric departments of the Medical School of Hannover is presented. Frequency, time, diagnoses, reasons and procedures are reported in detail and discussed in comparison with results of other studies.

[Evaluation and utilization of complementary medical procedures--a survey of 793 physicians in general practice and the clinic].

It is well known that complementary medicine is demanded by numerous patients and used by many doctors. In a representative postal survey of 793 female and male doctors working in practices and hospitals in the town and in the district of Kassel we could confirm the wide distribution of these procedures, especially as far as doctors in practice are concerned. It was the special interest of our study to analyse the motives for the use and the indications and to ask for a detailed and differential assessment of 18 complementary techniques.

[Tricyclic antidepressants in depressed patients with cardiovascular diseases: a contraindication?].

Depressive disorder and cardiovascular diseases occur quite frequently together in the same patient, especially in older patients. On the one hand depressions can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, on the other hand cardiac disease can lead to depressive disorders in need of treatment. Thus the problem of prescribing tricyclics for patients with cardiovascular diseases is of great clinical relevance.