[End of a psychiatric era? : Impact on the use of mechanical restraints after prohibition of psychiatric cage beds in a regional psychiatric department in Vienna, Austria].

Background: Since June 1st, 2014 the use of cage beds, a physical coercive measure in psychiatric wards, is forbidden by Austrian law. The 3rd Psychiatric Department at the Otto Wagner Hospital in Vienna carried out a pilot-study prior to the application of this law and compared 6 months with and 6 months without the use of cage beds in psychiatric acute treatment. The investigation focused on the use of mechanical restraints, especially of 4-point-restraints at admission time.

The impact of emotional faces on social motivation in schizophrenia.

Impairments in emotion recognition and psychosocial functioning are a robust phenomenon in schizophrenia and may affect motivational behavior, particularly during socio-emotional interactions. To characterize potential deficits and their interplay, we assessed social motivation covering various facets, such as implicit and explicit approach-avoidance tendencies to facial expressions, in 27 patients with schizophrenia (SZP) and 27 matched healthy controls (HC). Moreover, emotion recognition abilities as well as self-reported behavioral activation and inhibition were evaluated.

Schizophrenia and the dopamine-beta-hydroxylase gene: results of a linkage and association study.

Alterations in dopamine neurotransmission and disturbed norepinephrine activity have been implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. We considered the dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH) gene located on the long arm of chromosome 9 (9q34.3) as a candidate gene for schizophrenia.

[Stabilizing the social and health status of drug dependent patients with methadone. Long-term maintainance therapy--Vienna results].

On September 25th, 1987 methadone was legalized in Austria for therapeutic use in drug addiction treatment in case of: 1. Long-term drug addiction with intravenous application of the drug, and several unsuccessful withdrawal therapies and/or 2. opiate addiction through intravenous application of the drug along with an existing HIV-1 infection.