Neurostimulation in Anxiety Disorders, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.

Many pharmacological treatments were proved effective in the treatment of panic disorder (PD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder (SAD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD); still many patients do not achieve remission with these treatments. Neurostimulation techniques have been studied as promising alternatives or augmentation treatments to pharmacological and psychological therapies. The most studied neurostimulation method for anxiety disorders, PTSD, and OCD was repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS).

Quality of life in panic disorder: the influence of clinical features and personality traits.

Objective: To identify which clinical features and personality traits are associated with quality of life (QoL) in panic disorder (PD) patients.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with PD patients. The brief version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF) and the Big Five Inventory (BFI) were used to assess QoL and personality traits respectively.

Panic Disorder and Chronic Caffeine Use: A Case-control Study.

Background: Acute administration of caffeine produces panic attacks in most Panic Disorder (PD) patients, but little is known about chronic caffeine use in these patients.

Objective: To assess caffeine use in patients with PD and to ascertain if caffeine consumption is associated with sociodemographic or clinical features.

Methods: 65 adults with PD and 66 healthy controls were included in the current study.

Panic attack provocation in panic disorder patients with a computer simulation.

Background: Computer simulations (CS) and virtual reality exposure are promising techniques for research and treatment of panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA). The objective of this study was to ascertain whether a given CS was a stimulus capable of producing panic attacks (PAs), anxiety and psychophysiological changes in patients with PDA.

Methods: Thirty PDA patients and 30 healthy subjects were recruited for this study.

The impact of fibromyalgia syndrome and the role of comorbidity with mood and post-traumatic stress disorder in worsening the quality of life.

Background:: The aim is to measure the association between fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), mood and anxiety disorders using reliable psychiatric diagnoses according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV) and with a case-control design.

Methods:: Case-control study with cases (71 consecutive female patients with FMS) and controls (284 subjects without FMS), randomly drawn after a gender- and age-matching technique from the database of an epidemiological survey.

Neuroimaging findings as predictors of treatment outcome of psychotherapy in anxiety disorders.

Unlabelled: Anxiety disorders are the largest group of mental disorders and a leading cause of impairment, implicating in high costs for health systems and society. Effective pharmacological and psychological treatments are available, but a significant fraction of these patients does not respond adequately to these treatments. The objective of this study is to identify neuroimaging findings that could predict response to psychotherapy in anxiety disorders.

Personality Traits in Panic Disorder Patients With and Without Comorbidities.

Panic disorder (PD) is often correlated with high neuroticism and low extraversion. This study aims to ascertain whether PD patients differ from healthy controls in regard to personality traits and determine if these traits are correlated with comorbid disorders, anxiety, and depression symptoms. Personality traits of 69 PD patients and 42 controls were compared using the Maudsley Personality Inventory.

Predictors of Pharmacotherapy Response in Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Systematic Review.

Background: Pharmacotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) may be effective in reducing symptoms in the majority of patients. The study of moderators and predictors of treatment response may help clinicians both to select appropriate interventions to maximize the probability of response and to inform the general prognosis.

Methods: A systematic literature search of electronic databases, selected authors, and reference lists was used to identify articles that reported trials of drug monotherapy in GAD.

A hundred-year of Karl Jaspers' General Psychopathology (Allgemeine Psychopathologie)--1913-2013: a pivotal book in the history of psychiatry.

After a hundred-years of its publication, the Karl Jaspers' book, General Psychopathology, is still an indispensable book to psychiatrists and for all those who study psychopathology. It's a clear delineation of the phenomenological method for describing the symptoms of mental disorders that remains unmatched until nowadays. The book focuses on the relevance of phenomenological and hermeneutical methods in psychopathology.

The panic disorder respiratory ratio: a dimensional approach to the respiratory subtype.

Objective: The respiratory ratio is a dimensional construct of the respiratory subtype of panic disorder (PD). The respiratory subtype has been correlated with an increased sensitivity to CO₂ inhalation, positive family history of PD and low comorbidity with depression. The objective of our study was to determine whether the respiratory ratio is correlated with CO₂-induced panic attacks and other clinical and demographic features.

Efficacy of a specific model for cognitive-behavioral therapy among panic disorder patients with agoraphobia: a randomized clinical trial.

Context And Objective: Cognitive-behavioral therapy is frequently indicated for panic disorder. The aim here was to evaluate the efficacy of a model for cognitive-behavioral therapy for treating panic disorder with agoraphobia.

Design And Setting: Randomized clinical trial at Instituto de Psiquiatria da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro.