Revolving-door patients in a public psychiatric hospital in Israel: cross sectional study.

AIM. To study social, demographic, clinical, and forensic profiles of frequently re-hospitalized (revolving-door) psychiatric patients. METHODS.

Attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and emotions of the nursing staff toward patient restraint.

Physical restraints are used as a psychiatric intervention to protect psychiatric inpatients from self-harm or harm to others, by securing a safe environment for the patients and staff. We examined nurses' attitudes, environmental concerns, and emotional responses to physical restraint of psychiatric inpatients, using a questionnaire we constructed expressly for this study. Nurses reported that the main criteria for restraint were endangerment of the patient's self or surroundings.

Narcolepsy and psychotic states--a case report.

Narcolepsy is characterized by symptoms that include excessive sleepiness during the daytime, cataplexy, hypnagogic hallucinations and sleep paralysis. We present a single unusual case report of a patient who was admitted to a psychiatric facility. A 20-year-old single woman was hospitalized in a general hospital due to involuntary movements in her limbs.

Ethical and Scientific Perspectives of Placebo-controlled Trials in Schizophrenia.

Unlabelled: Clinical trials for development of new medications are essential in all fields of medicine. The requirement for a placebo arm in pharmaceutical trials presents ethical and clinical dilemmas that are especially complicated with regard to mentally ill persons whose free choice and ability to provide informed consent may be questionable. On the other hand, we do not believe that this predicament justifies unconditional rejection of placebo use in psychiatry, when the investigational drug may ultimately provide substantial benefit for some patients.

The meaning in life for hospitalized patients with schizophrenia.

This study investigated the relationship between the sense of meaning in life, quality of life, medical adherence, and duration of hospitalization among 60 inpatients at the Lev Hasharon Medical Center in Israel. Participants included men and women diagnosed with schizophrenia, whose psychiatric histories dated back at least 5 years. Participants were administered the following self-report questionnaires: Purpose In Life (Crumbaugh and Maholick, 1968), Condensed Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction (Ritsner et al.

Dying in the psychiatric ward.

General hospital staff is experienced in dealing with the death of a patient. However, aside from cases of sudden death among psychiatric inpatients, psychiatric medical staff faces such situations considerably less frequently. Many chronic psychiatric patients do not have a family or home, a situation which may become even more painful if the patient is dying of a physical illness.

Examining attitudes, beliefs and knowledge of effective practices in psychiatric rehabilitation in a hospital setting.

Objective: This brief report presents a staff training program based on psychiatric rehabilitation principles used in a hospital setting. The training program intervention significantly promoted the belief that mental illness does not necessarily limit functioning and also improved awareness of research findings, evidence-based practices and community services.

Methods: A randomized controlled study assessed the impact of the program on the staff's attitudes regarding psychiatric rehabilitation and recovery.

Testimony by mentally ill individuals.

Integration of individuals with mental illness into the community equates their status with that of the general population, and they may be called to give testimony concerning an incident witnessed, or a crime committed that they were not involved in, to admit guilt to a crime, or to testify about a crime in which they were the victim. Four case descriptions are presented: complaints against family, complaints against staff, abuse in treatment, and sexual abuse. The Israeli courts ruled that the testimony of a mentally ill person is admissible; however, the question that arises is the degree of importance that should be attributed to it.

[Decision-making concerning guardianship--who is the "person that no longer has the capacity to make decisions regarding personal matters"?].

Appointment of a guardian is a complicated and important process, when necessary. It is a paternalistic intervention in the life of an individual, which aims to protect those who require that protection. Appointment of a guardian significantly impedes the rights and autonomy of the individual and should therefore remain a last resort.

Idiopathic pruritus in psychiatric inpatients: an explorative study.

Unlabelled: Pruritus is an annoying physical symptom, frequently related to mental states. Dermatologic treatment commonly includes psychotropic medications.

Aims: This study aimed to investigate idiopathic pruritus (IP) in psychiatric patients, its demographic characteristics and its relationship to psychiatric diagnoses, psychosocial stress, medication use, drug use and psychological characteristics.

Multi-modal weight control intervention for people with persistent mental disorders.

Obesity, a major problem worldwide, is more prevalent among people with schizophrenia. This study examined the effect of behavior intervention, nutritional information and physical exercise on the body mass index (BMI) and weight of people who were hospitalized with persistent DSM-IV schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorders. Fifty nine inpatients with a BMI greater than 25 participated, (28 intervention group; 31 control group).

The civil liability for damages of the criminally insane.

As a rule, mentally ill patients are held to be responsible for their acts just like everyone else. Notwithstanding, the law in Israel contains special rules which distinguish individuals with mental illness from other people. The instructions laid out in article 34h of the Israeli Penal Law empower the court to release a defendant from criminal responsibility.

Psychiatric inpatient and staff attitudes regarding smoking reduction.

Aims: We assessed the interest of psychiatric inpatients and the staff in a smoking reduction program.

Methods: Inpatients, nurses, social workers and psychologists at a university-affiliated psychiatric hospital completed questionnaires addressing attitudes towards smoking and the desire to reduce smoking.

Results: 52% of the inpatients (N = 160) and 37.

Israeli psychiatric inpatients go to the polls.

In 1996, mobile polls were introduced in Israel, enabling physically and emotionally ill inpatients to vote. We surveyed the rate of participation of inpatients at Lev-Hasharon Mental Health Center in parliamentary elections, their feelings regarding voting, and the nature of their vote, compared with the general population. One hundred eighteen of 306 (38.

Guardianship of people with mental disorders.

The duty of a guardian is to protect a patient who is unable to care for himself or herself. Guardianship has been considered an abrogation of autonomy while conversely it often prevents irreversible harm to the patient. We examined the decision-making process for appointing a guardian in 60 cases from one mental health center in Israel, by examining the patients' medical records and court appeals.

Neurocognitive deterioration in elderly chronic schizophrenia patients with and without PTSD.

Neurocognitive deficits are associated with chronic schizophrenia and aging. We investigated whether elderly chronic schizophrenia inpatients who also suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have more severe cognitive impairment than elderly schizophrenia inpatients that do not. Fourteen schizophrenia inpatients that are Holocaust survivors and suffer from PTSD (survivor group) were compared with schizophrenia inpatients not exposed to the holocaust and without PTSD (comparison group) using neurocognitive assessments and psychiatric evaluation instruments.

Foreign objects in the vagina of a mentally ill woman: case series.

Objective: Reports of the insertion of foreign objects to the vagina by psychiatric patients are scant. We present two such cases.

Methods: Case I resulted from psychotic content and auditory command hallucinations.

Resident psychiatrists as assessors for lectures in continued medical education in psychiatry.

Objectives: We examined the quality of instruction in a continued medical education course and the correspondence between the residents and lecturers evaluations of the program.

Materials And Methods: Resident psychiatrists and instructors completed structured evaluation forms immediately following each lecture in a psychiatry course for one academic year.

Results: Residents' and lecturers' evaluations of goal achievement, but not general ratings of lecture quality correlated positively.

The effect of humorous movies on inpatients with chronic schizophrenia.

We assessed the impact of humorous movies on psychopathology, anxiety, depression, anger, social functioning, insight, and therapeutic alliance in schizophrenia inpatients. Twenty-nine psychiatric inpatients in open wards participated in the study. The study group viewed humorous and the control group viewed neutral movies daily for 3 months.

Mental health and resiliency following 44 months of terrorism: a survey of an Israeli national representative sample.

Background: Israeli citizens have been exposed to intense and ongoing terrorism since September 2000. We previously studied the mental health impact of terrorism on the Israeli population (Bleich et al., 2002), however the long-term impact of ongoing terrorism has not yet been examined.

[Psychiatric patients, dialysis, kidney transplant: case report and discussion].

Psychiatric patients' coping capacity with various life situations is limited due to their mental illness. This difficulty is even more pronounced when dealing with severe physical conditions such as kidney failure, the need for dialysis and kidney transplant. In the past, similar to patients who suffered from additional physical conditions, patients with major psychiatric disorders, long-term psychotic illness such as schizophrenia, were not considered candidates for dialysis treatment.

[Pharmacotherapy in schizophrenia--comparison of second generation antipsychotic agents].

Schizophrenia is a severely limiting chronic illness. The disease is characterized by periods of psychoses, remission, and sometimes even recovery. Effective pharmacotherapy for schizophrenia began with the development of antipsychotic neuroleptics in the 1950's, followed by the second generation of antipsychotic agents developed in the 1990's.

Mental homelessness:locked within, locked without.

The concept of Mental Homelessness is presented and developed. This paper will provide a historical review of the connection between mental illness and housing and the changing approaches toward institutionalization and de-institutionalization over several centuries. Case illustrations from practice in Israel will be presented to highlight the theme of home, or rather the theme of lacking a home as an element which may be inherent to a mental illness.