Clinical validity of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status among patients with schizophrenia in the Republic of Armenia.

There is considerable interest in Armenia toward advancing research and applying evidence-based practice in the treatment of schizophrenia. An area of research that has made little progress is the standardization of reliable and valid tests to measure cognitive functions. The aim of the present study was twofold.

Worldwide child and adolescent mental health begins with awareness: a preliminary assessment in nine countries.

To temper untoward mental health outcomes in children and adolescents, the World Psychiatric Association's Presidential Global Child Mental Health Programme, in collaboration with the WHO and the International Association of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professionals, established a Child Mental Health Awareness Task Force headed by Sam Tyano. Its task was to develop methodologies to increase awareness among policy-makers, community leaders, health professionals, teachers, parents, and children. Based on a prior comprehensive international search for effective techniques for information dissemination, an awareness manual was written for use by health professionals in diverse communities so as to guide the design and implementation of location specific awareness campaigns.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder in bipolar disorder patients with first manic episode.

Background: Evidence indicates that obsessive--compulsive disorder (OCD) co-occurs with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (BD) at a higher rate than in the general population. The inflated rate of comorbidity may result from chronic illness, antipsychotic therapy or treatment-seeking behavior. To control for these factors we evaluated the prevalence of OCD in patients with first-episode acute mania who met DSM-IV criteria for BD-I, and compared them with our previously reported group of first-episode schizophrenia patients.