Naturalistic Study of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Israeli Civilians Exposed to Wartime Attacks.

Objective: Civilians who survive wartime attacks commonly experience substantial psychological distress, including acute stress reactions (ASRs) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The authors sought to determine the level of Israeli civilian exposure to wartime attacks, prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and physical injuries, and associated medical costs over a 7-year period.

Methods: Data from the National Insurance Institute of Israel on civilian survivors of wartime attacks in the 2009-2015 period were retrospectively examined.

The effects of the survival characteristics of parent Holocaust survivors on offsprings' anxiety and depression symptoms.

Aim: This paper examines symptoms of anxiety and depression of Holocaust survivors' (HS) offspring as a function of their parents' age, gender, and survival situation (whether the survivor parent was alone or with a relative during the war).

Method: The 180 adults (142 with two parent survivors; 38 with a single parent survivor) who participated in this study completed (a) a measure of state-trait anxiety, (b) a measure of depression symptoms, (c) a sociodemographic questionnaire was divided into three sections: information about the participant, about his mother and about his father.

Results: Participants whose mothers were aged 18 or younger during the war and survived alone report more symptoms of anxiety and depression than participants whose mothers were the same age yet survived in the company of relatives.

Relationship between childhood sexual abuse and obsessive-compulsive disorder: case control study.

Background: The psychiatric sequelae of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with a variety of psychiatric disorders, such as eating disorders, depression, posttraumatic-stress disorder and borderline personality disorder. This study examined the association of CSA and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in adults.

Methods: Frequency of CSA was examined among 30 OCD patients and in two control groups: 17 patients with panic disorder (PD) and 26 non-psychiatric rheumatic patients (NPRP).

Natural course of posttraumatic stress disorder: a 20-month prospective study of Turkish earthquake survivors.

Objective: A 20-month prospective follow-up of survivors of the severe earthquake in Turkey in 1999 examined the natural course of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the contribution of different symptom clusters to the emergence of PTSD.

Method: Subjects were randomly sampled in a suburb of Istanbul that was severely affected by the earthquake. A total of 464 adults were assessed with a self-report instrument for PTSD symptoms on 3 consecutive surveys that were administered 1 to 3, 6 to 10, and 18 to 20 months following the earthquake.

Posttraumatic obsessive-compulsive disorder: a case series.

This report documents emerging posttraumatic obsessive-compulsive disorder in 13 Israeli military veterans diagnosed with both obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), for whom the onset of OCD was clearly associated with the trauma. Data presented include four detailed case reports that delineate relations between symptomatology in the two disorders. Clinical and theoretical implications of these data are discussed.

Anxiogenic effects of Sumatriptan in panic disorder: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Background: Several lines of evidence point to serotonergic abnormalities in patients with panic disorder (PD). Our goal was to further examine central serotonergic function in panic patients using autonomic and subjective responses to the postsynaptic serotonin 5-HT1D receptor agonist Sumatriptan.

Method: Using a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled design, we assessed autonomic and subjective responses to oral Sumatriptan (100 mg) and placebo in 15 patients with PD, free of medication.

Serotonergic dissection of obsessive compulsive symptoms: a challenge study with m-chlorophenylpiperazine and sumatriptan.

We have conducted a pharmacological challenge experiment in 10 medication-free obsessive compulsive (OC) disorder (OCD) patients. We used a placebo-controlled paradigm for m-chlorophenylpiperazine (mCPP) and sumatriptan challenges. Endocrine, physiological and behavioral variables were assessed at baseline and over a 3-hour period after the challenge.

Brain reactivity to specific symptom provocation indicates prospective therapeutic outcome in OCD.

A pertinent question in biological psychiatry is what differentiates responders and non-responders to pharmacological treatment. One possibility is that individual differences in the symptomatic spectrum as well as in the underlying biology of the disorder lead to the known 40% failure in pharmacological treatment. Our study aimed to maximize individual brain markers of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) by applying single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) during a provoked symptomatic state prior to and following treatment.

Refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder: state-of-the-art treatment.

Nonresponse to treatment in obsessive-compulsive disorder is common, associated with substantial impairment, and understudied. Little practical advice is available to clinicians on next-step treatment strategies for patients who have not responded well to 2 trials of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Available options include continuation of SSRI treatment, switching to another SSRI or selective serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, augmenting with atypical neuroleptics or cognitive-behavioral therapy, or utilizing novel treatment approaches.