Mental health and implications for antiretroviral adherence in a multiethnic Asian cohort.

Objectives: Research suggests a high prevalence of depression and anxiety in people living with HIV, resulting in negative health outcomes and poorer help-seeking behaviours when undetected. Subsequent disease progression and non-adherence to treatment constitute a significant barrier to HIV treatment. This paper aims to identify the risk factors for the development of psychological distress and non-adherence to antiretroviral medication in people living with HIV.

Psychosis in Parkinson's disease in a Southeast Asian cohort: prevalence and clinical correlates.

Introduction: Psychosis is a prominent neuropsychiatric symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD) and is associated with negative outcomes, such as poorer quality of life and greater rate of functional impairment. Early identification of patients with PD at risk of developing psychosis facilitates appropriate management to improve outcomes. However, this phenomenon has not been examined locally.

Internalized stigma, disclosure and self-esteem among psychiatric patients in a general hospital outpatient clinic.

Objective: Psychiatric patients often experience internalized stigma. This occurs when persons accept the negative attitudes of others towards them, then internalize and apply these beliefs to themselves. We assess the effects of internalized stigma on illness disclosure and on self-esteem in psychiatric outpatients, hypothesizing that internalized stigma is more pronounced in psychiatric patients than in medical patient controls and that internalized stigma is associated with avoidance of disclosure, as well as reduced self-esteem.

Attitudes toward utility, effects and side effects of treatment for anxiety and depression.

Objectives: Negative perceptions about psychiatric treatment are likely to affect treatment adherence. We compared attitudes of patients with psychiatric illness and those of medical patients towards psychiatric treatment.

Methods: Both patients with psychiatric illness and medical patients (controls) were shown a printed copy of two vignettes depicting major depression and generalized anxiety disorder.