Use of health care services in seasonal affective disorder.

Background: Little is known about the presentation and management of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in primary care.

Aims: To determine the use of health care services by people suffering from SAD.

Method: Following a screening of patients consulting in primary care, 123 were identified as suffering from SAD.

The psychiatric consequences of trauma.

Trauma can have marked and sustained psychological effects. Those at high risk thereof can be identified, and effective treatments are available. This review provides guidelines for the effective management of the psychiatric sequelae of trauma.

The provision of a telepsychology service to Shetland: client and therapist satisfaction and the ability to develop a therapeutic alliance.

We conducted a pilot study to assess the feasibility and acceptability of videoconferencing as a means of providing a clinical psychology service in the Shetland Islands. A general practitioner was equipped with a desktop PC-based system connected to a mainland hospital videoconferencing system by ISDN at 128 kbit/s. Qualitative methods were used to assess user satisfaction, the ability to form a therapeutic relationship and client improvement.

Neuropsychologic correlates of brain white matter lesions depicted on MR images: 1921 Aberdeen Birth Cohort.

Purpose: To examine relationships between brain white matter hyperintensities depicted at magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and performance on neuropsychologic tests in community-dwelling elderly adults.

Materials And Methods: The 1921 Aberdeen Birth Cohort is a subsample of survivors of the Scottish Mental Survey of 1932 whose mental ability was tested at 11 years of age. Ninety-five of these subjects agreed to undergo brain MR imaging, an examination of general health, and a neuropsychologic evaluation.

Season of birth in females with anorexia nervosa in Northeast Scotland.

Objective: To determine whether patients with anorexia nervosa exhibit an abnormal pattern in their season of birth.

Method: Case records of female patients presenting to secondary services in Northeast Scotland from 1965 to 1997 who received a clinical diagnosis of anorexia nervosa were examined. The months of birth of the 446 anorexic patients with a confirmed diagnosis were compared with 5,766 female control subjects born locally in 1951, 1961, 1971, and 1981.

Caring for others can seriously damage your health.

To care for others is a privilege and a source of personal and job satisfaction. However, caregivers must also consider the implications of their work for their own health and welfare.

Psychiatric sequelae and psychosocial adjustment following ocular trauma: a retrospective pilot study.

Aims: To identify the prevalence of psychiatric and adjustment problems after ocular trauma and those factors related to a poor outcome.

Methods: 47 patients were assessed by structured interview, of whom 45 satisfactorily completed three standardised self report measures of psychological functioning, subjective distress, and social adjustment.

Results: 33% of patients displayed psychiatric "caseness".

Using simulated patients in education about alcohol misuse.

It is important to educate medical students about alcohol misuse, but this process is hampered by negative attitudes and the unavailability of typical patients. However, simulated patients can describe full longitudinal histories in a characteristically defensive style and can provide direct feedback to student interviewers.

Development and current functioning in adolescents with Asperger syndrome: a comparative study.

Adolescents with Asperger syndrome (AS: without delay in speech development, diagnosed according to ICD-10 clinical criteria) were compared with a group with high-functioning autism (HFA: all with delayed speech development), and a group with conduct disorder (CD). Family and genetic studies suggest that Asperger syndrome and autism form part of the same spectrum, whereas the social impairments in conduct disorder are assumed to have different origins. The aims were to explore the relationships between early speech development and other aspects of functioning in autistic disorders, and to compare autistic and nonautistic social impairments.

Ambulance personnel and critical incidents: impact of accident and emergency work on mental health and emotional well-being.

Background: The association between mental health and occupational factors among ambulance personnel has not been thoroughly investigated in the UK.

Aims: To identify the prevalence of psychopathology among ambulance personnel and its relationship to personality and exposure to critical incidents.

Method: Data were gathered from ambulance personnel by means of an anonymous questionnaire and standardised measures.

The reliability of case register diagnoses: a birth cohort analysis.

Background: Few studies assess the reliability of case register diagnoses, despite their widespread use in psychiatric research. This study investigates case register diagnostic reliability in comparison to casenote derived diagnoses in a birth cohort.

Methods: Diagnostic information from the case register and casenotes of 449 individuals was extracted.

Lithium monitoring before and after the distribution of clinical practice guidelines.

Objective: To determine whether distribution of clinical practice guidelines improves lithium monitoring and whether standards of monitoring differed between patients in psychiatric contact and those seen only in primary care.

Method: Standards of monitoring were assessed for patients on lithium in northeast Scotland throughout 1995 and/or throughout 1996. Guidelines were circulated in January 1996 to all local general practitioners and psychiatrists.

Seasonal affective disorder among primary care attenders and a community sample in Aberdeen.

Background: There are no large published studies of the prevalence of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) among UK populations.

Aim: To determine the prevalence of SAD among patients attending a general practitioner (GP).

Method: Patients aged 16-64 consulting their GPs in Aberdeen during January were screened with the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ).

The effects of the participation of patients with cancer in teaching communication skills to medical undergraduates: a randomised study with follow-up after 2 years.

The importance of good doctor-patient communication is widely recognised. The aims of this study were to evaluate the immediate effects of the participation of patients with cancer on the attitudes and skills of undergraduate medical students receiving an interview skills training programme, and to assess the effects of the participation of patients with cancer on the attitudes and interview performance of students 2 years later. It was hypothesised that the participation of cancer patients would have specific beneficial effects on attitudes and interview performance.

Seasonality of eating pathology on the eating attitudes test in a nonclinical population.

Objective: To determine whether there are seasonal fluctuations in eating pathology in a nonclinical population.

Method: The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) was completed by 322 subjects during winter and again during summer. Summer and winter responses were compared to investigate differences in EAT total and subscale scores and for individual EAT items.

The effects of the participation of patients with cancer in teaching communication skills to medical undergraduates: a randomised study with follow-up after 2 years.

The importance of good doctor-patient communication is widely recognised. The aims of this study were to evaluate the immediate effects of the participation of patients with cancer on the attitudes and skills of undergraduate medical students receiving an interview skills training programme, and to assess the effects of the participation of patients with cancer on the attitudes and interview performance of students 2 years later. It was hypothesised that the participation of cancer patients would have specific beneficial effects on attitudes and interview performance.

Disparities in the geographical distribution of authorship between invited and peer reviewed papers.

Fifty issues of the British Medical Journal (BMJ), The Lancet, The British Journal of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine were scrutinized. Papers were designated as invited or peer reviewed and the geographical location of the first author was recorded. For UK-based authors, the latitude and longitude of the host institution was noted and was allocated to one of the UK regions.

The misuse of alcohol and other drugs by doctors: a UK report and one region's response.

This Commentary reviews the report from the Working Group on the Misuse of Alcohol and Other Drugs by Doctors, and considers the response of a Scottish region to it. The report confirms that alcohol and drug misuse in doctors is a threat to patients and that the problem in doctors is not being addressed satisfactorily. Support for the establishment of dedicated services is outlined.

Changes in the presenting features of females with anorexia nervosa in northeast Scotland, 1965-1991.

Objective: Rates of anorexia nervosa among females presenting to specialist services in northeast Scotland had increased significantly between 1965 and 1991. We sought to elucidate possible causes of this change.

Method: Hospital and primary care records were searched.

Hyperamylasemia in bulimia nervosa and hyperemesis gravidarum.

Objectives: The exact causes of hyperamylasemia detected in bulimia nervosa are unknown but it is presumed to be due either to repeated binging or to vomiting. This study set out to investigate the importance of vomiting in producing the raised serum amylase and to clarify whether the amylase in pancreatic or salivary.

Methods: Patients suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum who were repeatedly vomiting in pregnancy but not binge eating had their total serum and pancreatic amylase measured.

The views and outcomes of consenting and non-consenting patients receiving ECT.

Background: Current mental health legislation in the UK makes provision for the use of certain treatments in severely ill patients who are unable, or unwilling, to give informed consent. Under the terms of this legislation, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) may be used, usually to treat severely depressed patients. A number of organizations have challenged this practice, stating that ECT should only be given with fully informed consent: it has been implied that patients receiving compulsory ECT (given without the patient's consent, under the terms of mental health legislation) find the treatment damaging and unhelpful.