Causes Of Mental Illness Research Articles

Lithium Preparations in Psychiatry, Addiction Medicine and Neurology (To the 70th Anniversary of John Cade’s Discovery). Part I. History

The use of lithium salts in psychiatry has a long, more than two-thousand-year history. It goes back to the ideas of Hippocrates II, Galen and Soran of Ephesus regarding the feasibility of using mineral waters from certain sources, which, as we know today, were rich in lithium, magnesium and bromine salts, for the treatment of both manic and depressive states. Later, this effect of lithium salts was rediscovered – independently of each other – in the mid-19th century by the American psychiatrist William Alexander Hammond and the Danish psychiatrist Carl Lange. However, since this discovery was based on incorrect premises, namely, on the theory of «brain urine acid diathesis» as the cause of mental illness, it was not accepted, ignored and even ridiculed by colleagues. The rediscovery of the anti-manic effect of lithium salts by John Cade in 1948 is one of the greatest discoveries of psychiatry of the 20th century.The mechanisms of lithium therapeutic action are complex, diverse and not fully understood to this day. Initially, John Cade suggested that this effect of lithium is associated with its deficiency in patients with bipolar disorder and that exogenous lithium aids in compensation of such deficiency, or that patients with bipolar disorder suffer from some congenital disorder of lithium metabolism, thus requiring higher daily lithium doses than healthy people. However, it was soon shown that this was not the case.Despite the emergence of a significant number of alternative mood stabilizers, lithium remains relevant in psychiatry to this day.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Beliefs of Catholic Clerics' Regarding Mental Health in Lebanon.

Arabic speakers rarely seek the help of professional mental health providers while they heavily rely on religious leaders. However, little is known about the knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of clerics regarding mental illness. A standardized questionnaire was administered to 115 Christian religious men. Clerics appeared to have an informed, scientifically based understanding of the causes of mental disorders and of the importance of medications in effective treatment. However, several stigmatizing attitudes were identified. Contact with the patients significantly reduced the discrimination. Fear of the unpredictable highlights the need to develop and implement targeted approaches that outreach clergy.

Child mental illness and the help-seeking process: a qualitative study among parents in a Ugandan community

BackgroundChild mental illness contributes significantly to the burden of disease worldwide, and many are left untreated due to factors on both the provider and user side. Recognising this, the Ugandan Ministry of Health recently released the Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) Policy Guidelines. However, for implementation to be successful the suggested policy changes must resonate with the service users. To better understand the sociocultural factors influencing parental mental help-seeking, we sought insights from parents in the Mbale district of eastern Uganda.MethodIn this qualitative study, eight focus group discussions were conducted with mothers and fathers in urban and rural communities. Parents of children younger than 10 years were purposively selected to discuss a vignette story about a child with symptoms of depression or ADHD as well as general themes relating to child mental illness. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.ResultsDescriptions of severe symptoms and epileptic seizures were emphasised when recognising problem behaviour as mental illness, as opposed to mere ‘stubbornness’ or challenging behaviour. A mixture of supernatural, biomedical, and environmental understandings as underlying causes was reflected in the help-seeking process, and different treatment providers and relevant institutions, such as schools, were contacted simultaneously. A notion of weakened community social support structures hampered access to care.ConclusionAwareness of symptoms closer to normal behaviour must be increased in order to improve the recognition of common mental illnesses in children. Stakeholders should capitalise on the common recognition of the importance of the school when planning the upscaling of and improved access to services. Multifactorial beliefs within the spiritual and biomedical realms about the causes of mental illness lead to multisectoral help-seeking, albeit without collaboration between the various disciplines. The CAMH Policy Guidelines do not address traditional service providers or provide a strategy for better integration of services, which might mean continued fragmentation and ineffective service provision of child mental health care.

Do natural experiments have an important future in the study of mental disorders?

There is an enormous interest in identifying the causes of psychiatric disorders but there are considerable challenges in identifying which risks are genuinely causal. Traditionally risk factors have been inferred from observational designs. However, association with psychiatric outcome does not equate to causation. There are a number of threats that clinicians and researchers face in making causal inferences from traditional observational designs because adversities or exposures are not randomly allocated to individuals. Natural experiments provide an alternative strategy to randomized controlled trials as they take advantage of situations whereby links between exposure and other variables are separated by naturally occurring events or situations. In this review, we describe a growing range of different types of natural experiment and highlight that there is a greater confidence about findings where there is a convergence of findings across different designs. For example, exposure to hostile parenting is consistently found to be associated with conduct problems using different natural experiment designs providing support for this being a causal risk factor. Different genetically informative designs have repeatedly found that exposure to negative life events and being bullied are linked to later depression. However, for exposure to prenatal cigarette smoking, while findings from natural experiment designs are consistent with a causal effect on offspring lower birth weight, they do not support the hypothesis that intra-uterine cigarette smoking has a causal effect on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and conduct problems and emerging findings highlight caution about inferring causal effects on bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Chapter 11 - The psychopharmacology of Wilson disease and other metabolic disorders

Wilson disease (WD) is a hereditary metabolic disorder (HMD) caused by a mutation in the copper-transporting gene ATP7B affecting the liver and central nervous system. About 30% of patients with WD may initially present with psychiatric symptoms, and management can be difficult. More generally, HMDs are a rare but important cause of psychiatric disorders in adolescents and adults. Main signs of HMDs may remain isolated for years before the appearance of hepatic or neurologic signs. The incidence of HMDs has been estimated at approximately 40 cases per 100,000 live births. Some of them are treatable and new diagnostic methods and therapies have become available. HMDs that present purely with psychiatric symptoms are very difficult to diagnose due to low awareness of these rare diseases among psychiatrists and neurologists. However, it is important to identify HMDs in order to provide disease-specific treatment and possible prevention of irreversible physical and neurologic complications. Genetic counseling can also be provided. Psychotropic medications should be prescribed carefully in that indication. This chapter focuses on three HMD categories: chronic, treatable HMDs (e.g., WD); acute, treatable HMDs; and chronic HMDs that are difficult to treat. In this review we focus on the psychopharmacology of WD and other chronic and difficult-to-treat HMDs. We provide some keys to take into account the main side effects associated with common psychotropic medications.

Electrophysiology of Seizure Disorders May Hold Key to the Pathophysiology of Psychiatric Disorders

Despite the increasing burden of mental illness, social stigma and fears that psychological and emotional problems are a sign of character weakness prevent most sufferers from seeking treatment. These barriers are reinforced by diagnostic ambiguity, frequent drug side effects, variable treatment success, and a lack of clarity about the cause of mental illness. Much more progress has been made with epilepsy, a closely related group of disorders for which the pathophysiology is better understood. Although psychiatric disorders and seizure disorders are known to be distinctly different conditions, they have many shared features including their disruptive effects on mentation, their migratory nature, and their responsiveness to anticonvulsant drugs. In addition, a comparative analysis of the two disorder-types strongly suggests that they have shared mechanisms of symptom production, symptom progression, and symptom prevention. In this side-by-side comparison of the two disorder-types, I will discuss how the electrophysiological patterns that underlie seizure initiation and migration help explain how psychiatric symptoms develop and morph into one another, thus providing important insights into the pathophysiology of mental illness and potentially serving as a guide to the development of more effective treatments.

Psychiatric Genetics Around The Globe - Chances And Challenges: An Update From The Global Diversity Task Force Of The ISPG

Overall Abstract One of the primary missions of the ISPG is to spread state-of-the-art research into the genetics of mental illness around the globe. In so doing, we strive to adhere to the highest standards of scientific practice, to learn about regional chances and challenges, and to foster collaborations across continents. To this end, the ISPG has established a standing committee, the Global Diversity Task Force, bringing together researchers from all continents. A major focus of the Task Force's work lies on the empowerment of early career investigators. Furthermore, the Task Force aims at identifying obstacles that impede researchers' access to funding and other resources needed for successful research. In this symposium, we will learn about the latest developments on these frontiers' from researchers from Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia.

Traditional faith healers as referral sources: A hospital-based descriptive study

Introduction: Mental illnesses are commonly linked with a higher disability and burden of disease than many physical illnesses. But despite that fact, it is a general observation that a majority of patients with mental disorder never seek professional help. To elaborate further, the widely prevalent magico-religious beliefs associated with mental illness and lower literacy, poses significant social obstacles in seeking appropriate health care for psychiatric patients. In general, mental illness is seen as related to life stresses, social or family conflicts and evil spirits and the concept of biological causes of mental illness is rare even among the educated. The idea that illness and death are due to malevolent spirits is common notion that is shared practically by all level of society from the so-called primitive to modern industrialized societies, thus indicating the strong influences of cultural background. When there is a magico- religious concepts of disease causation, there is tendency to consult indigenous healers. Therefore, the patients with mental illness often either visit or are taken to faith healers by their relatives. The objective of the study was to determine the various psychiatric cases that were referred by the traditional faith healers to the authors.
 Material and Method: This is a cross- sectional, hospital- based descriptive study, conducted at the Psychiatric outpatient department of Pokhara Om Hospital, Pokhara, Kaski, Nepal for the period of one year, from June 2016 to May 2017. The total of 35 cases, referred by the traditional faith healers was included in the study. Subjects of any age, any gender, any literacy level, any caste, from any locality and religious background were included in the study after their consent. Subjects who refused to consent were not included in the study. The psychiatric diagnosis was based on the complete history and examination and ICD- 10 DRC criteria.
 Results: Though the sample size is small, it is interesting to note that patients with various kinds of mental disorders were referred by traditional faith healers. There were patients suffering from neurotic disorders, psychotic disorders, mood disorders, seizure, substance use disorder, intellectual disability etc seeking the treatment from traditional faith healers. Among the cases referred, predominantly were female and neurotic cases. Most patients were educated.
 Conclusion: The study shows that patients with various mental disorders visit traditional faith healer. This area surely requires further in-depth look as traditional faith healers can be an important source of referral of psychiatric patients.

The Humanistic Paradigm and Bio-Psyhco-Social Approach as a Basis of Social Support for People with Mental Health Problems

The article discusses the actual problem of social support for people with mental health problems, which has an important place in the study field of social psychology and social work.The article also deals with the definition of the concept of “mental health”, the problem of introducing the term “mental health problems” as a way to avoid stigmatization, and the spread of a humanistic attitude to persons with a psychiatric diagnosis. It also discussed modern theoretical approaches that offer an understanding of the contribution of biological, social, and psychological factors into the cause of mental health problems.The problem of mental illness is common to all countries of the world, as WHO data evidenced the number of people with mental disorders among the world’s population, ranging from 4–5 %. According to researchers P. Voloshin and N. Maruta, the spread of mental and behavioral disorders in Ukraine is characterized by a slow increase of about 2.9 % in every 10 years. Researchers argue that in subsequent years, according to the prognostic data, there will be an increase in these indicators. The issue of providing social support to people with PDS in Ukrainian society is very relevant, which is complicated by their social isolation in the process of recovery after the treatment. The results of scientific research in the context of different cultures and relatively diverse life events (hospitalization, mental illness, unemployment, old age) generally confirm the positive results of using social support to promote mental and physical health. Instead, there are no studies in Ukrainian science related to the phenomenon of social support of people with mental health problems.It is important to define the concepts of “mental health” and “mental health problems” in the process of studying the features of social support for people with mental health problems. The term “mental health” combines the medical and psychological fields of science and practice, but modern psychology offers a comprehensive approach to assessing the psychological health of a person, the psychological norm, its limits, taking into account the criteria of mental health. The description of the mental health given by the Psychological Dictionary points out the components of awareness and the sense of continuity, continuity and identity of their physical and mental “I”; sense of continuity and identity of experiences in similar situations; critical to yourself and your mental activity and its results; the adequacy of psychic reactions of force and frequency of environmental influences; the ability to manage their behavior in accordance with social norms; planning personal activities and implementing them; changing the way of behavior depending on the changing circumstances of life.The concept of “mental health problem” was taken as a term that denotes all the symptoms classified in ICD-10 and DSM-IV, which are recommended by experts to clients for appropriate treatment and care. Scientists and mental health practitioners point out that mental health problems can affect the way an individual thinks, feels, and behaves; affects self-service, fulfills professional duties, social, family roles, and household behavior, which is usually deeply affected by the quality of life of the individual. Numerous results of the research show that there are specific psychological and personality factors apart from the biological causes of mental disorders (genetic factors that contribute to the imbalance of chemicals in the brain) that make people vulnerable to occurrences of the mental health problems.Several modern theoretical approaches offer an understanding of the contribution of biological, social, and psychological factors to the induction of mental health problems: the traditional medical model, the rehabilitation model, the interface model, the social model, and the biopsychosocial approach. Only biopsychosocial and social models are consistent with the definition of WHO disability and emphasize the impact social aspects of mental health and the quality of life of people with mental health problems.Individuals with PPP, as a social community, have specific needs that differentiate them from other members of society, one of which is the need for constant socio-psychological support. So, the contribution of psychology and social work to the quality of life of people with mental disorder lies in the application of professional approaches and methods based on the biopsychosocial (social) model, which emphasize the need for socio-psychological support. An example of such a technique is the model of modern social work practice “people-in-environment”, which serves as a guiding principle of social work and emphasizes the importance of understanding the persons with disorder and their behavior in the light of the multiple context of the social environment in which these persons live and act. Specialists of social work and psychology make interventions at three levels: individual, at the family level, and at the community level, by means of intensifying the support of the environment within the cognitive-behavioral and other approaches, which contribute to the process of reintegrating people with mental health problems into community.

Impaired Cerebellar Development in Mice Overexpressing VGF.

VGF nerve growth factor inducible (VGF) is a neuropeptide precursor induced by brain-derived neurotrophic factor and nerve growth factor. VGF is increased in the prefrontal cortex and cerebrospinal fluid in schizophrenia patients. In our previous study, VGF-overexpressing mice exhibited schizophrenia-like behaviors and smaller brain weights. Brain developmental abnormality is one cause of mental illness. Research on brain development is important for discovery of pathogenesis of mental disorders. In the present study, we investigated the role of VGF on cerebellar development. We performed a histological analysis with cerebellar sections of adult and postnatal day 3 mice by Nissl staining. To investigate cerebellar development, we performed immunostaining with antibodies of immature and mature granule cell markers. To understand the mechanism underlying these histological changes, we examined MAPK, Wnt, and sonic hedgehog signaling by Western blot. Finally, we performed rotarod and footprint tests using adult mice to investigate motor function. VGF-overexpressing adult mice exhibited smaller cerebellar sagittal section area. In postnatal day 3 mice, a cerebellar sagittal section area reduction of the whole cerebellum and external granule layer and a decrease in the number of mature granule cells were found in VGF-overexpressing mice. Additionally, the number of proliferative granule cell precursors was lower in VGF-overexpressing mice. Phosphorylation of Trk and Erk1 were increased in the cerebellum of postnatal day 3 VGF-overexpressing mice. Adult VGF-overexpressing mice exhibited motor disability. All together, these findings implicate VGF in the development of cerebellar granule cells via promoting MAPK signaling and motor function in the adult stage.

Beliefs About Etiology and Treatment of Mental Illness Among Korean Presbyterian Pastors

This descriptive study explored pastors' beliefs about etiology and treatment of mental illness. Surveys were completed by mail by 202 Korean and Euro-American Presbyterian clergy. Nearly one-third of Korean pastors viewed bad parenting and demon possession as very important causes of mental illness, in contrast to the more than two-thirds of Euro-American pastors who viewed genetics and chemical imbalances as the most important causes. Compared with their Euro-American counterparts, Korean pastors soundly endorsed spiritual treatment of mental illness. The findings of this study suggest the value of understanding the views of pastors working with populations that underutilize formal mental health services.

Perceptions of the causes of schizophrenia and associated factors by the Holy Trinity Theological College students in Ethiopia

IntroductionThere is a cultural variability around the perception of what causes the syndrome of schizophrenia. As far as the cause of schizophrenia by the general public concerned, people living in western countries focus mainly on biological and social risk factors such as genetic vulnerability, disease of the brain, infection or stressful social conditions or personal weakness, but the predominant views held by people living in non-western countries focus mainly on supernatural and religious factors. Awareness and beliefs about the causes of mental illnesses influence the preferred treatments. The aim of this study was to determine the perceptions regarding the etiology of schizophrenia and the associated factors by theology students.MethodsAn institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among Holy Trinity Theological College students from May to June 2016. Self-administered Short Explanatory Model Interview was used to assess the perception of what causes the syndrome of schizophrenia. Data entry was performed by Epi-info version 3.5.3 and the Statistical Program for Social Science (SPSS version 20) was used for data clearance, and analyses.ResultsA total of 409 students were involved in the survey. The mean age of the participants was 33.3 years (standard deviation ± 8.3) and almost all 94.4% of them were males. The majority (81.7%) of the participant recognized schizophrenia as a mental illness. Only 16.9% of the participants attributed supernatural phenomenon as a cause of schizophrenia and most of them 76.5% (313) thought of psychosocial problems as the cause of schizophrenia. About 40.1% of the participant endorsed biological factors as a cause of schizophrenia. About two-thirds (68.2%) of the participant thought schizophrenia as severe but not fatal illness and about 22.2% of them thought both severe and fatal illness. As far as the course concerned majority (88.5%) of the participants thought schizophrenia as a chronic illness and about 11.5% thought acute illness. Regarding the treatment, almost all (99.8%) of reported schizophrenia is treatable. Moreover, concerning the consequences of the illness about 18.8% reported the death as a consequence and about 66.7, 34.7 and 7.8% reported madness, family disintegration and losing a job, respectively. Urban residency and holding other degree were significantly associated with biological factors as a cause of schizophrenia (p < 0.05). Whereas getting information from mass media and health professional, marital status (married) and urban residence were significantly associated with psychosocial factors as the cause of schizophrenia. Furthermore, rural residency was significantly associated with the supernatural phenomenon as the cause of schizophrenia.ConclusionIn the current study, the majority of the participant recognized schizophrenia as a mental illness and a treatable syndrome. A vast majority of the participant thought of psychosocial problems as the cause of schizophrenia about two-thirds of the participant thought schizophrenia as a severe but not fatal illness. As far as the course concerned majority (88.5%) of the participants thought schizophrenia as a chronic illness. Concerning the consequences of the illness, about 18.8% reported the death as a consequence and about 66.7, 34.7, and 7.8% reported madness, family disintegration and losing a job, respectively. Residency, marital status, and source of information were significantly associated with perceived causes of schizophrenia. Linking mental health service with spiritual care to address community mental health care needs and for early detection as well as referral linkage of mentally ill patients is warranted.

Integrating DSM/ICD, Research Domain Criteria, and Descriptive Psychopathology in Teaching and Practice of Psychiatry.

Background: Some believe that Psychiatry relies solely on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Some are not aware of the effort initiated by the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) to propel the field to a new era of Medicine. Others are not acquainted with studies of Descriptive Psychopathology that can dissect symptoms and signs of mental illness and convert them into reliable clinical data for diagnosis and treatment purpose. This document is to bring keenness of the advances in research, translational or clinical, made in Psychiatry, and to encourage students, psychiatric residents, as well as psychiatric practitioners to integrate DSM/ICD, RDoC, and Descriptive Psychopathology into teaching and practice.Methods: A search of the literature originated from 1985 to 2018 on two central databases: Google Scholar and Pubmed by free-texting: “comparison, strengths and weaknesses, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Research Domain Criteria, and Descriptive Psychopathology.”Results: The DSM and ICD possess algorithms for psychiatric diagnosis, but they are limited to determine psychobiological causes of mental illnesses. Descriptive Psychopathology aims to dissect the mind to understand better “signs and symptoms,” their psychological, neurological, or neuropsychological origins but has been criticized for being non-reliable to practically explain the meaning of signs and symptoms that it attempts to describe. The RDoC claims to be a data-driven system of biological and psychological research for an evidence-based approach to Psychiatry. It is said that RDoC utilizes translational research that has been very slow to move to human experimentation.Discussion and conclusion: Despite incommensurable translational research and human trials, the integration of translational research (neurosciences, experimental psychology, and genomics) as available human research data into teaching and practice is lacking. The author believes that the integration will enhance scientific and well-founded communication with our peers, advance psychopharmacologic treatments and improve our patient's mental well-being.

Från galenskap i vardagslivet till sjukdom i generna

&#x0D; From madness in everyday life to diseases in the genes of the body – The Swedish Asylum Agency’s conceptual formations of causes of mental illness, 1860–1910&#x0D; This article is about how the language used with regard to insane people in Sweden changed during the period 1860–1910. The focus is on when discourses about madness in the mid-1800s was managed by the Asylum Agency, as the government’s authority for the steering and control of the institutional care of the insane. With this management, the understanding of madness became structured by the Asylum Agency through its annual reports, which consist of diagnoses, descriptions of treatments, and descriptions of the care institutions’ architecture. The causes that are presented in the Asylum Agency’s annual reports do not reflect where the mental illnesses fit, and what biological pathologies they consist of. There is a clear link between ontological uncertainty about mental illness and epistemological vagueness. We see here how the categorization of social phenomena, such as madness, and the concepts that describe it, are brought to life as a result of the spirit of the age, ideology, morality, politics, culture, lifestyles and technologies.

The neuropathological investigation of the brain in a monkey model of autism spectrum disorder with ABCA13 deletion

The precise biological etiology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the neuropathology of a monkey model of autism Human ABCA13 is the largest ABC transporter protein, with a length of 5058 amino acids and a predicted molecular weight of >450 kDa. However, the function of this protein remains to be elucidated. This protein is thought to be associated with major psychiatric disease. Using this monkey model of autism with an ABCA13 deletion and a mutation of 5HT2c, we neuropathologically investigated the changes in the neuronal formation in the frontal cortex. As a result, the neuronal formation in the cortex was found to be disorganized with regard to the neuronal size and laminal distribution in the ABCA13 deletion monkey. The catecholaminergic and GABAergic neuronal systems, serotoninergic neuronal formation (5HT2c) were also found to be impaired by an immunohistochemical evaluation. This study suggested that ABCA13 deficit induces the impairment of neuronal maturation or migration, and the function of the neuronal network. This protein might thus play a role in the neurodevelopmental function of the central nervous system and the dysfunction of this protein may be a pathophysiological cause of mental disorders including autism.

Socio-Demographic Predictors of Intimate Partner Violence in a Population Sample of Iranian Women

Background: Domestic violence is a global problem in the world and it is a common cause of psychiatric disorders in women of the reproductive age. This study was aimed at determining the socio-demographic predictors of intimate partner violence. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 558 married women in Tabriz, Iran. Participants were selected through the cluster sampling. Data were collected using a socio-demographic characteristics questionnaire and the revised conflict tactics scale (CTS2). CTS2 consists of 39 pairs of statements and five sub-scales including negotiation, psychological, physical, sexual, and injuries sub-scales. It has eight response categories (0 to 7) for each items. Selecting options one to six for any item of each subscale was considered as presence, and selecting options zero or seven was considered as absence of that type of IPA. The multivariate logistic regression model was employed to determine the predictors of domestic violence dimensions. A P value < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The highest prevalence of male domestic violence against women and female domestic violence against men was in the negotiation dimension, respectively 97% and 98.2%. The lowest prevalence of the male domestic violence against women was in the injury dimension (22.6%) and female domestic violence against men was in the sexual coercion dimension (32.8%). Age, husbands’ smoking, family income adequacy, consensual marriage, and husband’s first marriage were the predictive variables of domestic violence against both men and women. Woman’s job and woman’s job satisfaction were only the predictive variables of male domestic violence against women. Household members and spouse’s substance and alcohol abuse were only the predictive variables of female domestic violence against men. Conclusions: Considering the high prevalence of domestic violence and its relationship with certain socio-demographic factors in the present study, it is crucial to propose culturally-appropriate strategies for decreasing domestic violence to provide matrimonial stability and family solidarity.

Neuropsychiatric Lyme Borreliosis: An Overview with a Focus on a Specialty Psychiatrist's Clinical Practice.

There is increasing evidence and recognition that Lyme borreliosis (LB) causes mental symptoms. This article draws from databases, search engines and clinical experience to review current information on LB. LB causes immune and metabolic effects that result in a gradually developing spectrum of neuropsychiatric symptoms, usually presenting with significant comorbidity which may include developmental disorders, autism spectrum disorders, schizoaffective disorders, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders (panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, intrusive symptoms), eating disorders, decreased libido, sleep disorders, addiction, opioid addiction, cognitive impairments, dementia, seizure disorders, suicide, violence, anhedonia, depersonalization, dissociative episodes, derealization and other impairments. Screening assessment followed by a thorough history, comprehensive psychiatric clinical exam, review of systems, mental status exam, neurological exam and physical exam relevant to the patient’s complaints and findings with clinical judgment, pattern recognition and knowledgeable interpretation of laboratory findings facilitates diagnosis. Psychotropics and antibiotics may help improve functioning and prevent further disease progression. Awareness of the association between LB and neuropsychiatric impairments and studies of their prevalence in neuropsychiatric conditions can improve understanding of the causes of mental illness and violence and result in more effective prevention, diagnosis and treatment.

Adults' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Willingness to Interact With Patients Suffering From Mental Illness in Jeddah City.

BACKGROUND: Mental illness is a serious health problem. Understanding the views of different communities toward patients with mental illness is important in understanding how communities deal with these patients. AIM: To investigate Saudi adults' knowledge, attitudes, and willingness to interact with patients with mental illness. METHOD: The study followed a quantitative approach, a descriptive correlation design. RESULTS: The study results indicate that while participants had knowledge and positive attitudes toward certain aspects, they had negative knowledge and attitudes regarding other aspects. Most participants (61.1%) mentioned that the cause of mental illness is biological, 61.9% stated that medication is a useful way to treat patients with mental illness, and 90% believed that patients with mental illness deserve respect. Furthermore, 35.8% of participants believed that patients with mental illness had a tendency toward dangerous and aggressive behavior, whereas 33.2% believed that the community is safer if patients with mental illness are kept in hospitals. There was a positive correlation between knowledge and attitudes toward patients with mental illness (r = .305, p < .01). On the other hand, the study found that there is a statistically significant and negative correlation among adults' attitudes and their readiness to interact with patients. CONCLUSIONS: The study will ideally encourage stakeholders to design and initiate an educational strategic program at the community level in order to improve community members' awareness and attitudes and enhance their readiness to interact with patients with mental illness.

Contemplating the relevance of Prajnaparadha as a root cause of Mental Disorder

Prajnaparada (Intellectual Blasphemy) is willfully ignoring one’s inner knowing and going against norms, intuition and common sense. It is the root cause for all diseases. Involving in verbal, mental or physical activities which are un-favorable to self, harms both body and mind. Actions generated by Prajnaparada aggravate Tridosha (bodily humors) and stimulate Rajas and Tamo Gunas (psychological attributes) allowing disease to be established.

Mental illness has multiple causes: beliefs on causes of mental illness by congregants of selected neo-prophetic churches in Ghana

ABSTRACTThe present study explored perceived causes of, and preferred treatment approach for, mental illness among congregants of six Neo-prophetic churches in Accra and Kumasi through in-depth interviews. Using thematic analysis, five themes emerged from participants’ causal attributions of mental illness. These included lifestyles and environmental stressors, spiritual causes, interaction of multiple factors, trauma and biological causes. Additionally, participants discussed four main mechanisms through which stress leads to mental illness. These included persistent worrying over stressors, use of inappropriate coping strategies to cope with stress, refusal to talk about one's problems and individuals’ appraisal of stress and available coping resources. These beliefs directly determined congregants’ preferred treatment approach. Implications of the findings are discussed.