A nationwide forensic case-series of femicides in Italy - Part 1: Clues to the motives of the murder.

A conceptual framework for the revision of the ICD‐10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders

In the last few decades, mental disorders resulting from substance abuse have become a frequent phenomenon, which features diverse forms and degrees of severity. In addition to being a medical and extremely harmful social phenomenon, substance abuse (commonly known as drug or narcotics abuse) is frequently a subject matter of research in many sciences or scientific disciplines, such as medicine, psychology, sociology, legal science, etc. Drug abusers may develop diverse mental disorders, which largely depends on the type of psychoactive substance which is being abused and the method of taking narcotics (including frequency, daily dose, mode of administration, etc.). In this paper, the author provides an overview of different types of mental disorders according to the applicable International Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders. The disturbance of mental functions due to drug abuse (which may or may not result in the development of a mental disorder) changes the perception and behaviour of drug users. The disturbance of mental functions becomes particularly prominent in the circumstances where substance abuse has turned into a drug addiction; the basic characteristic of the dependence syndrome is an irresistible urge (craving or even compulsion) to take the substance in order to enjoy its effects again or to avoid/relieve the drug addiction crisis or the abstinence syndrome, which may be extremely painful and agonizing. As a consequence of these mental disturbances and other disorders arising from drug addiction, human behaviour may be disrupted to such an extent that a person may demonstrate some criminal conduct, which ultimately makes these mental disorders highly relevant in the field of criminal law. Given the fact that the criminal offender is a drug abuser who may have different forms of mental disorders, there is a need to consider the offender's mental capacity (sanity), which ultimately makes these mental disorders highly relevant from the point of view of forensic psychiatry. The author's primary goal in this paper is to present the basic postulates underlying the perception of drug abuse and drug addiction in forensic psychiatry, both from the theoretical and practical point of view. In exploring the practical aspect of this issue, the author focuses on presenting the basic principles of forensic-psychiatric expertise of criminal offenders who have been diagnosed as having mental disorders caused by drug abuse. The expertise includes different aspects of assessing mental disorders: giving professional opinions on the offender's mental capacity (sanity), assessing the potential danger of recidivism or commission of a more serious criminal act, and giving proposals for relevant of security measures concerning the mandatory treatment of drug addicts both in outpatient clinics and in other relevant in-patient medical institutions. Given the fact that mental disorders stemming from drug abuse frequently have numerous financial, family and professional implications, the author presents some forensic psychiatric attitudes pertaining to the assessment of contractual capacity of these persons, the assessment of their working capacity (including the remaining working ability or temporary inability to work), the assessment of mental capacity for exercising the parental right or custodianship rights. In that context, the author provides the forensic psychiatric aspects of these mental disorders from the aspect of civil law. Drug abuse and drug addiction involve serious and complex socio-pathological problems which are difficult to treat/cure. This paper is the author's contribution to casting light on these issues, primarily from the aspect of forensic psychiatry.

In 2004, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Board of Directors formed the Task Force on Mental Health and charged it with developing strategies to improve the quality of child and adolescent mental health* services in primary care. The task force acknowledged early in its deliberations that enhancing the mental health care that pediatricians and other primary care clinicians† provide to children and adolescents will require systemic interventions at the national, state, and community levels to improve the financing of mental health care and access to mental health specialty resources. Systemic strategies toward achieving these improvements are the subject of other publications of the task force: “ Strategies for System Change in Children's Mental Health: A Chapter Action Kit ” (chapter action kit),1 “Improving Mental Health Services in Primary Care: Reducing Administrative and Financial Barriers to Access and Collaboration,”2 and “Enhancing Pediatric Mental Health Care: Strategies for Preparing a Community.”3 The task force also recognized that enhanced mental health practice will require competencies not currently achieved by many primary care clinicians; in the policy statement “The Future of Pediatrics: Mental Health Competencies for Pediatric Primary Care,”4 the task force collaborated with the AAP Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health to outline these competencies and propose strategies for achieving them. This report offers strategies for preparing the primary care practice itself for provision of enhanced mental health care services. The task force proposes incrementally applying chronic care principles to the care of children with mental health and substance abuse problems as primary care clinicians apply them to the care of children with chronic medical conditions such as asthma. Most primary care clinicians will find that significant gaps exist between their current practice and the proposed ideal. The task force offers guidance in … Address correspondence to Jane Meschan Foy, MD, Department of Pediatrics, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC 27157. E-mail: jmfoy{at}wfubmc.edu

Depression in Mothers of Children Presenting for Emergency and Primary Care: Impact on Mothers' Perceptions of Caring for Their Children

Firearm Injury and Mortality Prevention in Pediatric Health-care Settings.

This study examined the association between provider specialty and guideline-concordant care after the initiation of antidepressant treatment. Medical and prescription claims were analyzed from adults newly diagnosed as having major depressive disorder who initiated antidepressant treatment. Follow-up visits during the first 90 days after the index prescription were identified, and an indicator for receipt of guideline-concordant care (three or more visits) was created. Logistic regression models were used, and propensity score matching techniques were applied. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to investigate how results differed by varying the approach to identify follow-up visits. The study included 4,102 patients, and only 31% received guideline-concordant follow-up visits. Patients receiving their initial prescription from psychiatrists were nearly five times as likely as patients receiving their initial prescription from primary care providers to receive guideline-concordant follow-up care (odds ratio=4.6, 95% confidence interval=3.9-5.4). Routine care for antidepressant management falls short of guideline recommendations, especially in primary care.

Psychosocial Factors May Play Role in Posttrauma Resilience

Depression and the global economic crisis: is there hope?

Patients with both mental illness and substance abuse pose a major clinical challenge to mental health and substance abuse clinicians. The literature seems to support the hypothesis that mental illness and substance abuse occur together more frequently than chance would predict. Assessment and classification of these patients should be guided by clinicians' needs to make meaningful therapeutic judgments and to communicate effectively with each other in coordinating treatment. Different phases of treatment require different approaches to assessment and classification. In initial classification, the clinician should recognize the problem of dual diagnosis and resist premature assumptions about which diagnosis is primary. Long-term treatment and rehabilitation may require systematic evaluation of alternative clinical by potbeses about why a patient exhibits both disorders. This approach eventually may lead to better ways to assess, classify, and treat these difficult patients.

What Do We Know About Drug Addiction?

Research Issues for Improving Treatment of U.S. Hispanics With Persistent Mental Disorders

The Conceptual Development of DSM-V

Fentanyl-laced street drugs “kill hundreds”

Parole Revocation Among Prison Inmates With Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders

Analyzing Offense Patterns as a Function of Mental Illness to Test the Criminalization Hypothesis