The development of posttraumatic stress disorder following an unusual life event: a case report.

Posttraumatic stress disorder is the only psychiatric disorder, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, that requires a specific life-threatening event to have occurred prior to diagnosing the illness. The traumatic event is described as an experience of witnessing either the occurrence, or imminent threat, of serious injury or death. This case report describes the development of posttraumatic stress in a middle-aged man, with no prior psychiatric history, after he ingested part of a candy bar he later discovered to be infested with maggots.

The social and treatment consequences of a shared delusional disorder in a homeless family.

Objective: Delusional disorder is defined as a fixed, false belief that is held by a person despite evidence to the contrary. Shared psychotic disorder, also known as folie a' deux, psychosis by association and induced psychotic disorder, is an uncommon and unique psychiatric disorder. It is even more unusual when it occurs within families (folie a' famille).

Psychiatric street outreach to homeless people: fostering relationship, reconnection, and recovery.

Individuals who suffer from serious and persistent mental illnesses constitute nearly one-third of the homeless population in this country. Perhaps the most vulnerable people in the homeless population are those who are disabled from a mental illness and are also chronically unsheltered. Psychiatric street outreach to this particular segment of the homeless population is commonly justified based upon the need to engage the most severely impaired and most medically underserved individuals in our communities assertively.

The use of duloxetine in chronic bulimia nervosa: a case report.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are routinely prescribed as off-label treatments for bulimia nervosa. There is, however, a paucity of literature addressing the efficacy of the serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors in the pharmacologic management of this disorder. This article describes a clinical situation in which duloxetine, a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, effectively treated a patient with long-standing bulimia nervosa, purging type, and comorbid generalized anxiety disorder.

Recognizing psychologically masked illnesses: the need for collaborative relationships in mental health care.

Background: Both research and clinical experience support the view that unrecognized medical illnesses in mental health, as well as in primary care, treatment settings can directly cause or exacerbate a patient's presenting psychological symptoms. No study has compared medical and nonmedical health care professionals on their respective abilities to identify common medical illnesses that frequently masquerade as psychological disorders.

Method: In this study, 24 psychiatrists, 20 primary care physicians, 31 psychologists, and 17 social workers, recruited between November 2005 and April 2007, were asked to complete a questionnaire designed to measure the respondents' knowledge of masked medical illness.

Physical and sexual abuse history in women seeking treatment at a psychiatric clinic for the homeless.

The rate of lifetime exposure to physical and/or sexual abuse among homeless women is very high, and the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and substance abuse is greater in this population than in the general population. The relationship between abuse and mental illness in homeless women is incompletely understood. Using multivariable logistic regression, the present study examines this relationship in a retrospective study of women seeking treatment at a psychiatric clinic for the homeless in Jacksonville, Florida.

Homeless, mentally ill and addicted: the need for abuse and trauma services.

This paper examines an empirical investigation of the lifetime prevalence of trauma (defined as sexual and/or physical abuse) in a cohort of adults enrolled in a federally funded initiative that provides treatment for homeless persons suffering the effects of comorbid substance use and serious mental illness, and considers the impact of this information on clinical programming. Data collected from homeless individuals with co-occurring disorders admitted to the Seeking Treatment and Recovery (STAR) Program during a one year period (n=78) were analyzed for a history of trauma events. Of those individuals evaluated, 79.