Psychological Characteristics Of Patients Research Articles

This pain drives me crazy: Psychiatric symptoms in women with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome.

Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) is an at least 6-mo noninfectious bladder inflammation of unknown origin characterized by chronic suprapubic, abdominal, and/or pelvic pain. Although the term cystitis suggests an inflammatory or infectious origin, no definite cause has been identified. It occurs in both sexes, but women are twice as much affected. To systematically review evidence of psychiatric/psychological changes in persons with IC/BPS. Hypothesizing that particular psychological characteristics could underpin IC/BPS, we investigated in three databases the presence of psychiatric symptoms and/or disorders and/or psychological characteristics in patients with IC/BPS using the following strategy: ("interstitial cystitis" OR "bladder pain syndrome") AND ("mood disorder" OR depressive OR antidepressant OR depression OR depressed OR hyperthymic OR mania OR manic OR rapid cyclasterisk OR dysthymiasterisk OR dysphoriasterisk). On September 27, 2023, the PubMed search produced 223 articles, CINAHL 62, and the combined PsycLIT/ PsycARTICLES/PsycINFO/Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection search 36. Search on ClinicalTrials.gov produced 14 studies, of which none had available data. Eligible were peer-reviewed articles reporting psychiatric/psychological symptoms in patients with IC/BPS, i.e. 63 articles spanning from 2000 to October 2023. These studies identified depression and anxiety problems in the IC/BPS population, along with sleep problems and the tendency to catastrophizing. Psychotherapies targeting catastrophizing and life stress emotional awareness and expression reduced perceived pain in women with IC/BPS. Such concepts should be considered when implementing treatments aimed at reducing IC/BPS-related pain.

Analysis of the characteristic features of psychosocial adaptation of patients with coronary heart disease to chronic heart failure

BACKGROUND: Psychosocial risk factors influence the development and progression of chronic heart failure. Early identification and correction of psychosocial risk factors can reduce their negative impact on the severity of heart failure. AIM: To determine a set of clinical characteristics, socio-demographic indicators, personal and psychological characteristics of patients with coronary heart disease depending on the level of psychosocial adaptation to chronic heart failure. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study involved 120 patients with coronary heart disease and chronic heart failure. The “Questionnaire for assessing psychosocial adaptation of patients with coronary heart disease to chronic heart failure” developed by the authors was used. Based on the testing results, patients were divided into three groups: adapted, conditionally adapted and maladapted. The first group included 40 patients, the second — 65, and the third — 15. The severity of the clinical course of heart failure, adherence to therapy and the presence of comorbid pathology were assessed. The characteristics of personal response, the severity of neurotic states, a tendency toward type D personality, quality of life, level of social support, and cognitive functions were studied. The socio-demographic characteristics of the patients (age, gender, level of education, position held, level of earnings, nature of alcohol consumption) were analyzed. Statistical and correlation data analysis was performed using the statistical computing environment R 4.2.1. The critical level of significance was considered to be p=0.05. RESULTS: The severity of heart failure decreased (τ=0.38, 95% confidence interval 0.25–0.50, p 0.0001); indicators of left ventricular ejection fraction (ρ=–0.46, 95% confidence interval from –0.59 to –0.30, p 0.0001) and quality of life (ρ=0.63, 95% confidence interval 0.51–0.73, p 0.0001) increased as the level of psychosocial adaptation increased. Adapted and maladapted patients differed in age (p=0.0411), level of education (p=0.0179), position (p=0.0217), personal (p 0.0001) and family (p=0.015) financial well-being, characteristics of personal response, severity of neurotic disorders, as well as the level of social support (p 0.05), adherence to treatment (p=0.0004). Type D personality was registered in 100% of maladapted patients. Adapted patients had higher values of cognitive functions (26.5±4.2 points) and lower comorbidity index scores (5.8±2.7 points) than maladapted patients (23.6±2.3 points, p=0.003; 8.7±3.6 points, p=0.0033). CONCLUSION: Differences in the severity of the clinical course of the disease, socio-demographic characteristics, personal and psychological characteristics of patients with coronary heart disease were found as the level of psychosocial adaptation to heart failure decreased.

Clinical and Psychological Characteristics of Patients after First-Episode Psychosis with Cognitive, Emotional, and Volitional Deficiencies: Comparative Analysis

This research featured 139 patients (60 men, 79 women) after the first-episode psychosis. All patients demonstrated cognitive and/or emotional deficiency. The research objective was to compare clinical, sociodemographic, psychosocial, and individual characteristics. The expert clinical assessment revealed three groups. Group I included 29 patients with negative symptoms in the cognitive sphere; group II consisted of 46 people with negative symptoms in the emotional and volitional sphere; group III included 64 people with no pronounced deficiencies. The authors employed the method of clinical psychological interview and various pathopsychological non-standard methods to study the cognitive activity of the patients. The list of psychometric methods included the Beck’s Depression Inventory, a coping behavior questionnaire, a short version of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), and the Suicide Risk Assessment Scale. The data obtained were processed using SPSS v. 25.0 and Excel 2010. The three groups demonstrated the following statistically significant differences: diagnosis, critical attitude to one’s own condition, and continuity of psychiatric care (clinical characteristics); social adaptation problems (psychosocial characteristics); association and motivation (cognitive activity); suicidal risk (emotions, personality, and behavior). The MMPI and the coping behavior test also showed differences from the test norm, as well as between the groups. A comparative analysis of clinical and psychological characteristics in patients after the first-episode psychosis makes it possible to develop a correct psychorehabilitation program, prevent deficit symptoms, and improve social functioning.

Cognitive and psychological characteristics in patients with Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy: a literature review.

To review the current data on cognitive and psychological characteristics of patients with CAA and on the instruments used for their evaluation. A systematic search was performed in Embase, Scopus and PubMed with terms related to "cerebral amyloid angiopathy", "neuropsychological measures" and "patient-reported outcome measures" from January 2001 to December 2021. Out of 2851 records, 18 articles were selected. The cognitive evaluation was present in all of which, while the psychological one only in five articles. The MMSE (Mini Mental State Examination), TMT (Trail Making Test), fluency test, verbal learning test, digit span, digit symbol and Rey figure tests were the most used cognitive tests, while executive function, memory, processing speed, visuospatial function, attention and language were the most frequent impaired cognitive functions. Depression was the most considered psychological factor usually measured with BDI (Beck Depression Inventory) and GDS (Geriatric Depression Scale). The results of this study might be used in clinical practice as a guide to choose cognitive and psychological instruments and integrate them in the clinical evaluation. The results might also be used in the research field for studies investigating the impact of cognitive and psychological variables on the disease course and for consensus studies aimed at define a standardized evaluation of these aspects.

Psychosocial Predictors of Ventilator weaning Outcomes among patients in intensive care units

BackgroundVentilator weaning is a process of discontinuing mechanical ventilation and transitioning patients to independent breathing after a period of mechanical support. Weaning outcomes among the critically ill in intensive care units (ICUs) vary significantly among individuals, leading to considerable variation in healthcare costs, length of hospital stay, morbidity and mortality. Addressing psychosocial aspects of care can improve weaning outcomes. ObjectiveThis study aimed to determine the effect of psychosocial factors (social support, family/significant other support, ability to communicate) on weaning outcome within intensive care patients. This research hypothesized that psychological and social factors play a role in determining ventilator weaning outcomes among ICU patients. MethodsThis study used a longitudinal, retrospective research design to analyze positive and negative psychosocial predictors of ventilator weaning outcomes. Data collection methods include interviews and questionnaires with patients and their families, as well as clinical data from the patient's medical records. Resultspresence of anxiety, depression, and hallucinations, have a negative relationship with weaning outcomes regarding a patient's psychological characteristics (rs = −0.207, −0.163, −0.158), while communication with a patient during mechanical ventilation have a positive relationship with weaning outcomes regarding a patient's psychological characteristics (rs = 0.152; p ≤ 0.05). Moreover patients who have fear during weaning trials, feeling neglected, and feeling insecurity have a negative relationship with weaning outcomes while gaining family support during mechanical ventilation have a positive relationship with weaning outcomes (rs = 0.144; p ≤ 0.05).Significance of results, the findings suggests that psychosocial factors, such as anxiety, depression, patient's perception of their illness, motivation to wean, and family involvement can influence the success of ventilator weaning among patients in ICUs.

Psychological consequences of combat trauma at the hospital stage of rehabilitation

BACKGROUND: Currently, the issues of restoring the somatic and mental health of combatants undergoing treatment and rehabilitation in hospital conditions are becoming particularly relevant.
 AIM: To examine and compare the mental states and psychological consequences of combat trauma at the hospital stage of rehabilitation of combatants.
 MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study involved 97 combatants with various wounds and injuries that were hospitalized in the clinical units of the surgical and therapeutic profile of the Military Medical Academy. Of these, 44 people were examined in 2014 and 53 people in 2022.
 RESULTS: Comparison of independent samples of combatants in 2014 and 2022 at the stage of treatment and rehabilitation showed a statistically significant twofold decrease in asthenic manifestations from 38.6% in 2014 to 20% in 2022 (p 0.05). The relative number of combatants with negative psychological consequences of combat trauma in the form of manifestations of post-traumatic stress disorder in 2014 and 2022 was similar and amounted to 15.9% and 17%, respectively, which is apparently due to the homogeneity of the sample and the similarity of factors causing these stress-reactive changes. Uncompensated negative psychological consequences of combat trauma can be fixed in the form of combatant accentuation and chronic, irreversible personality change. These stress-reactive changes reduce both the professional qualities of the combatants and their quality of life.
 CONCLUSION: The clinical and psychological characteristics of patients indicate the need for psychological assistance, starting from the moment of injury and continuing throughout the wound disease.

КЛИНИКО-ПСИХОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ АСПЕКТЫ ФАРМАКОРЕЗИСТЕНТНОЙ ЭПИЛЕПСИИ

Drug-resistant epilepsy is determined by both clinical and subjective factors that are realized through psychological, behavioral and social mechanisms leading to low compliance, behaviors that help maintain a certain frequency of seizures, deformation of the motivational and emotional spheres of patients. The purpose of the study is to analyze the clinical, psychological characteristics of patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, to identify significant correlations between clinical and psychometric characteristics in patients with different course of epilepsy. The study included 60 patients diagnosed with epilepsy, divided into 2 groups: 30 patients with drug-resistant epilepsy and 30 patients with seizure remission. Patients underwent psychometric tests. Statistical differences were assessed using non-parametric statistics, Spearman's coefficient was used for correlation analysis, data at p < 0.05 were considered reliable. Clinical predictors of drug-resistant epilepsy were consistent with those described earlier in the literature: early onset of seizures, long duration of the disease and frequency of seizures, the prevalence of focal seizures, symptomatic structural variant of epilepsy. Negative correlations have been found between seizure frequency and levels of neuroticism and self-destructive behavior. Thus, high anxiety caused a more responsible attitude of patients to the treatment process, increasing their compliance. In patients with drug-resistant epilepsy, negative personality characteristics correlated with insufficiency of the inhibition process. The influence of neuroticism, alexithymia extended to a greater number of personality traits and behavior, indicating their systemic impact on the behavior of patients. The construction of models of behavior in conflict by patients with drug-resistant epilepsy reflected a tendency to compensate for personality traits through ineffective avoidance behavior, to demonstrate a lack of flexibility. Drug-resistant epilepsy is an important medical and social problem. The relationship of the disease with psychological and behavioral characteristics is close and complex, so such patients need clinical and psychological support to optimize the treatment process.

Psychological features of patients with Takotsubo syndrome: cross-sectional study

Objective. We aimed to assess the psychological state and personality-adaptive potential in patients with Takotsubo syndrome (TS), and to use the results to construct a prognostic model for the risk of developing the disease.
 Materials and methods. A total of 38 patients with TS were examined 1014 days after the disease onset. The mean age of the men was 63.814.73 years, and the women, 33 (86.8%) years. The control group included 40 people; their average age was 66.610.4 years, of which 39 (97.5%) were women. Their psychological state and stress resistance were assessed using the following tests and questionnaires: G. Eysenck's personality questionnaire; the hardiness survey; the N.V. Kirsheva and N.V. Ryabchikov personality stress resistance self-test; the scale of perceived stress; the PSM-25 LemurTessierFillion psychological stress measure; the SpielbergerKhanin anxiety scale; the Hamilton Anxiety Scale; the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale; the Beck Depression Scale; and the MontgomeryAsberg depression rating scale.
 Results. G. Eysenck's personality questionnaire showed that patients with TS had a higher level of neuroticism (14.63.7 and 11.44.1, respectively; p 0.01) and tendency to introversion (9.43.3 and 12.43.5, respectively; p 0.001) than the control group. According to the SpielbergerKhanin psychometric scale, reactive anxiety was higher in the TS group (46.49.1 and 37.011.4, respectively; p 0.0001), and there was also a tendency toward personal anxiety (45.17.3 and 41.811.1, respectively; p 0.05). For all three analyzed scales designed to assess internal anxiety, it was found that in patients with TS, this component of the psyche was more pronounced (HARS: 21.84.8 and 16.15.4, respectively; p 0.0001; HADS: 13.13.6 and 7.43.0, respectively; p 0.0001). Depression, ranging from mild to severe, was more common in patients with TS, according to all questionnaires (HADS: 100% and 40%, respectively; p 0.05; BDI: 73.7% and 27%, respectively; p 0.05; MADRS: 97.4% and 62.5%, respectively, p 0.05). According to the hardiness test, the TS group had low indicators of overall hardiness (71.418.0 and 82.619.7, respectively; p 0.05), involvement (32.59.1 and 36.88.9, respectively; p 0.05), and control (23.37.3 and 29.27.8, respectively; p 0.01) compared to the control group. Stress resistance was also significantly lower in patients with TS (38.96.4 and 34.17.3, respectively; p 0.001). Based on the data from the questionnaires and scales, using the classification tree method, an integral model for predicting the development of TS with a high predictive value (96%) was built.
 Conclusion. Anxiety and depressive disorders make a significant contribution to the development of TS. Personality traits like introversion, neuroticism, and increased susceptibility to stress with low stress resistance and hardiness also play a role. This suggests the need for timely diagnosis of psychological disorders and their correction in people with this personality type, especially postmenopausal women. Prompt intervention may help prevent or reduce the risk of developing the disease.

Clinical and psychological characteristics of patients with ischemia and non-obstructive coronary arteries (INOCA) and obstructive coronary artery disease

Study objectiveIschemia with non-obstructive coronary arteries (INOCA) is caused by vascular dysfunctions and predominantly seen in women. For better recognition and prevention more insight is needed on risk factors and well-being. We aimed to explore differences in psychological distress, quality of life, risk factors, and medication use between women with INOCA and obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). MethodsPatients from two separate studies (n = 373, 57 % women) completed a questionnaire assessing psychological and clinical factors. Analyses were performed for women only who were categorized into three groups: non-ischemic chest pain (n = 115), INOCA (n = 68), and obstructive CAD (n = 30). Secondary analyses were performed for men only, and sex differences within INOCA patients were explored. Results and conclusionCompared to obstructive CAD patients, INOCA patients reported better physical functioning (p = 0.041). Furthermore, INOCA patients had less often hypercholesterolemia (p < 0.001), were less often active smokers (p = 0.062), had a lower mean BMI (p = 0.022), and reported more often a familial history of CAD (p = 0.004). Patients with INOCA used antithrombotic, cholesterol lowering medications, and beta-blockers less often than patients with obstructive CAD. No differences between patients with INOCA and obstructive CAD were found for psychological distress, well-being, and for women-specific risk factors. The results suggest that women with INOCA experience similar levels of psychological distress and seem to have different risk factor profiles and are less optimally treated as compared to obstructive CAD patients. Further research on risk factors is needed for better prevention and treatment.

Clinical and Psychological Features of Patients With Poisoning By Antihypertensive and Antiarrhythmic Drugs as a Result of Suicidal Actions

The effective care for patients with self-poisoning with antihypertensive and antiarrhythmic drugs is associated with taking into account both clinical and adverse social, psychological and environmental stress factors. To identify their specifics, a retrospective analysis of 120 medical records and a clinical and psychological examination of 20 patients with antihypertensive and antiarrhythmic drugs self-poisoning and a comparison group of 34 patients with selfpoisoning with psychotropic drugs were carried out. It has been shown that the risk group for re-suicide in self-poisoning with antihypertensive and antiarrhythmic drugs is about 30% of patients. Risk factors are depressive symptoms that persist before discharge from the hospital, as well as dysfunctional personality traits (perfectionism in the form of increased preoccupation with the assessments of other people and frequent unfavorable comparisons with them, experiencing loneliness and isolation, increased impulsivity and a feeling of hostility from others) and unproductive ways of coping with stress (ruminative thinking or repetitive unpleasant and unproductive thoughts about anergy, lack of strength and loneliness). The results of the study and the developed psychodiagnostic complex can be used to identify targets for urgent psychological assistance and screening for the risk of re-suicide.

Characteristics of behavioural addiction in Parkinson’s disease patients with self-reported impulse control disorder and controls matched for levodopa equivalent dose: a matched case–control study

Impulse control disorders (ICD) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) frequently occur, not always as a direct consequence of dopaminergic medication. This study investigated premorbid personality traits and behavioural characteristics in non-demented PD patients with self-reported symptoms of ICD (PD-srICD). From a total of 200 non-demented PD patients who filled out questionnaires assessing symptoms and severity of ICD, those were classified as PD-srICD (n = 32) who reported current occurrence of at least one compulsive behaviour (gambling, sexual behaviour, buying behaviour, or eating). As a control group, 32 patients with no self-reported ICD symptoms were matched for levodopa equivalent daily dose. The demographic, clinical, and premorbid personality profiles were compared between both groups. Frequency of psychological characteristics indicating substance use disorder was evaluated in patients with PD-srICD. Patients with PD-srICD were more frequently male, younger at examination, had earlier PD onset, more depression, higher non-motor burden, less quality of life (p < 0.05, respectively), and more frequently reported premorbid sensation seeking/novelty orientation (p = 0.03) and joyful experience of stress (p = 0.04) than patients in the control group. Of patients with PD-srICD, 90.6% reported at least one behavioural characteristic of substance use disorder, most frequently positive expectations following ICD behaviour and illusional beliefs about its behavioural control. Signs of addiction were common among patients with PD-srICD. Therefore, the profile of psychological characteristics in patients with PD-srICD resembled that of patients with substance use disorder. It can be concluded that dopamine replacement therapy (DRT) alone does not account for PD-srICD and that thorough psychological diagnostics are recommended.

Psychological characteristics of patients with inflammatory bowel disease during the first wave of COVID-19.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC)) are chronic, immune-mediated diseases with unclear aetiology, characterized by relapsing inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. These conditions significantly impair patients' physical and mental condition and quality of life. To investigate the impact of the current pandemic situation on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients' psychological status and to determine factors that mediate the level of depression, anxiety, and health-related quality of life. This was a multicentre, observational, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study. A total of 206 participants (male: 34%) were involved. The online survey consisted of 8 different psychological measures (such as depression, anxiety, coronavirus distress, health-related quality of life, etc.) and other therapy-specific and sociodemographic factors. 28.2% of respondents showed depressive symptoms and 11.2% indicated moderate to severe anxiety. Also, 27.7% revealed mild, moderate, or severe distress regarding the coronavirus situation. According to regression analysis, anxiety and coronavirus distress are mostly influenced by psychological factors. In contrast, the changes in quality of life and depression can be explained by disease-specific and psychological factors as well. Patients need more attention during this period to help them cope with psychological factors and prevent their IBD from becoming worse.

Clinical and psychological characteristics of migraine patients

Introduction. Understanding the clinical and psychological characteristics of migraine patients is essential for developing effective multidisciplinary treatment that includes psychological methods. The personality characteristics of migraine patients continue to be studied and discussed. The study of individual-psychological characteristics of personality in patients with migraine of different frequency is topical.Aim. To assess clinical and psychological characteristics in patients with varying frequency of migraine.Materials and Methods. Sixty migraine patients, mean age 32.92 ± 6.23 years, were included in the study. Depending on the frequency of migraine, all study participants were allocated to 1 of 3 groups: Group 1 – patients with rare episodic migraine; Group 2 – patients with frequent episodic migraine; Group 3 – patients with chronic migraine. All patients were interviewed and tested.Results and discussion. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of the mean values of neuroticism, psychoticism, extraversion or introversion. Most patients in each group were moderately neurotic and all others were highly neurotic; most patients were ambivalent, i.e., shared both introvert and extrovert personality traits, with the rest being either pure extrovert or pure introvert. None of the patients were psychotic (prone to inappropriate emotional reactions). In each group, patients with a normal temperament type and melancholic spectrum temperaments predominated.Conclusion. Depressive and anxiety disorders are more common in chronic and frequent episodic migraine than in rare episodic migraine. Neuroticism, psychoticism and extraversion/introversion were found regardless of the frequency of migraine attacks.

Nail surgery: the effect of clinical and psychological characteristics on post-surgical quality of life and pain severity

Nail disease and nail surgery are commonly perceived as painful and distressful experiences that can significantly affect patient health-related quality of life. A comprehensive management of patients undergoing dermatological surgery could improve their emotional experience, influence quality of life and, hopefully, improve their adaptation to the intervention. This study aimed to investigate whether patient psychological characteristics may relate to nail intervention procedures and influence post-surgical quality of life and pain severity. This prospective observational monocentric cohort study was conducted in the Dermatology Nail Unit of Bologna. Patient candidates for nail surgery, meeting the inclusion criteria, were invited to participate in the study which consisted of completion of a self-report questionnaire before (Time 1) and one month after (Time 2) surgery. Nail surgery was performed for 102 patients: 46 underwent highly invasive and 56 mildly invasive nail procedures. In total, 46 nail tumours were excised which were shown to be benign in 36 cases and malignant in 10 cases. Patients with a high level of pain sensitivity and trait of anxiety reported significantly lower levels of quality of life and high levels of pain intensity one month after surgery (p < 0.001). Our findings highlight the need for clinicians to consider the psychological characteristics of patients following dermatological surgery care in order to balance the negative impact of trait anxiety, pain sensitivity and negative treatment expectations regarding post-surgery quality of life and pain severity.

The level of risky sexual behaviour and psychological characteristics of patients with HIV infection, serving a sentence in correction facilities in FCIN of Russia

Objective. The assessment of a psychological profile and a level of social adaptation among patients with HIV infection in the penitentiary system.Materials and methods. Randomly selected HIV-infected prisoners (n=41) from Novosibirsk prisons have passed in-depth interviews and survey on several questionnaires, based on different methods (questionnaires on assessing some social and medical indicators, a questionnaire on the TOBOL system — a clinical testing method, aimed at diagnosing a type of attitude to the disease. The test on 13 kinds of addiction by G. V. Lozova’s system and the test on identifying locus-control by G. Potter method are also included in the questionnaire.Results and discussion. The survey results showed that it is characteristic for a significant proportion of the examined patients to have a risky sexual behaviour, posing a risk of infecting a partner with HIV. It was stated that most of the tested have the dominance of anosognosic and ergopathetic type of attitude to the disease; there is tendency in developing some forms of chemical and non-chemical addiction and diagnosed prevalence of internal locus of control.

A systematic review of patient-reported dignity and dignified care during acute hospital admission.

To synthesize quantitative evidence on levels of dignity during acute hospital admission and identify barriers and facilitators to patients' dignity or dignified care from the perspective of hospitalized patients. The secondary aim was to examine the relationship between dignity and demographic, clinical and psychological characteristics of patients. A systematic review based on the protocol of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guideline for reporting systematic reviews. Five electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, AgeLine) were searched in February 2021, followed by backward-forward searching using Web of Science and Scopus databases. Potentially eligible articles were scrutinized by two reviewers. Articles that met the eligibility criteria were appraised for quality using the Critical Appraisal Tool for Cross-Sectional Studies. Two reviewers extracted data for the review and resolved differences by consensus. Out of 3052 potentially eligible studies, 25 met the inclusion criteria. Levels of dignity for hospitalized patients vary widely across geographic locations. Patients' dignity is upheld when healthcare professionals communicate effectively, maintain their privacy, and provide dignity therapy. Patients' perceptions of dignity were, in some studies, reported to be associated with demographic (e.g. age, marital status, gender, employment, educational status), clinical (e.g. hospitalization, functional impairment, physical symptoms) and psychological (e.g. depression, anxiety, demoralization, coping mechanisms) variables whilst other studies did not observe such associations. Patients in acute care settings experience mild to a severe loss of dignity across different geographic locations. Patients' dignity is influenced by several demographic, clinical and psychological characteristics of patients. The findings of the review support impetus for improvement in dignified care for hospitalized patients, addressing factors that facilitate or impede patients' dignity. Measures aimed at alleviating suffering, fostering functional independence and addressing patients' psychosocial needs can be used to promote dignity.

Social adaptation level and its relationship with the main clinico-dynamic and psychological characteristics in the comorbidity of affective disorders and alcohol dependence

Alcohol dependence (AD) and mood disorders are not only a serious medical and socio-economic problem for modern society, but also the cause of social adaptation disorders that form even in the early stages of each of these disorders, as well as in case of their comorbidity.Objective: to determine the relationship between the level of subjective assessment of social adaptation and the main clinical, dynamic and psychological characteristics in patients with affective disorders (AFD) with comorbid AD.Patients and methods. The study included 126 patients treated for AFD in the departments of affective or addictive conditions of the clinic of the Research Institute of Mental Health of the Tomsk National Research Medical Center (F31 – F34.1 according to ICD-10; n=83) or AFD comorbid with AD (F10. 2; n=43). The study used clinical-dynamic, psychometric, pathopsychological and statistical methods.Results and discussion. Patients with AFD without comorbidity at admission were characterized by a greater severity of subjective impairment of social adaptation and anhedonia; hypochondriacal, depressive, psychasthenic and schizoid traits predominated in the structure of their personality. At the same time, the condition of patients with AFD and AD comorbidity was objectively assessed as more severe. An inverse correlation was found between the level of subjective assessment of social adaptation and anhedonia in the group of patients with «pure» AFD, and in the group with AFD and AD comorbidity, with the severity of depressive symptoms (due to typical depressive symptoms), as well as with depressive and anxious personality traits of patients.Conclusion. Self-assessment of social adaptation of patients with “pure” AFD depends on the intensity of anhedonia manifestations, and in patients with AFD and AD comorbidity, on depressive symptoms (due to typical depressive symptoms) and on the severity of such psychological characteristics as depression and psychasthenia.

Stigma and unhealthy psychological characteristics in patients with acromegaly: A cross-sectional study and identification of the associated factors.

Stigma, besides aggravating the damage caused by the disease, may also lead to unhealthy characteristics in patients and unhealthy situations in society. Individuals with acromegaly disease may suffer from stigma concerns, and the associated factors remain largely unknown. Therefore, the present cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the levels of perceived stigma in patients with acromegaly and explore the associated factors. A total of 138 patients with acromegaly were evaluated for having stigma using five previously validated scales: (i) the Stigma Scale for Chronic Illness, (ii) the Hamilton Anxiety Scale, (iii) the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, (iv) the Body Image Concern scale, and (v) the Acromegaly Quality of Life scale. The potential determinants of stigma were evaluated using the univariate statistical analysis. A multivariate linear regression model was adopted to assess the predictors of stigma in patients with acromegaly. Pearson's correlation analysis was performed to analyze the relationship between stigma and the quality of life of the patients. Among the 138 respondents, 102 provided consent for participation.The evaluated patients exhibited critically high levels of perceived stigma. The multiple regression analysis revealed high BMI, serious body image concerns, inferiority complex personality, and critical levels of anxiety as the potential predictors of stigma in patients with acromegaly. The overall stigma and internalized stigma were significantly correlated with QoL in these patients. The patients with acromegaly exhibited critically high levels of perceived stigma, which led to psychological distress and disruptions in their daily lives. This finding highlights the importance of addressing the stigma concerns and the necessity for providing additional support to these patients in this regard during follow-up sessions. Further research should focus on developing intervention strategies to decrease the levels of perceived stigma in patients with acromegaly to promote their quality of life and for the psychosocial rehabilitation of these patients.

Regional Neural Activity Abnormalities and Whole-Brain Functional Connectivity Reorganization in Bulimia Nervosa: Evidence From Resting-State fMRI.

The management of eating behavior in bulimia nervosa (BN) patients is a complex process, and BN involves activity in multiple brain regions that integrate internal and external functional information. This functional information integration occurs in brain regions involved in reward, cognition, attention, memory, emotion, smell, taste, vision and so on. Although it has been reported that resting-state brain activity in BN patients is different from that of healthy controls, the neural mechanisms remain unclear and need to be further explored. The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) analyses are an important data-driven method that can measure the relative contribution of low-frequency fluctuations within a specific frequency band to the whole detectable frequency range. The fALFF is well suited to reveal the strength of interregional cooperation at the single-voxel level to investigate local neuronal activity power. FC is a brain network analysis method based on the level of correlated dynamics between time series, which establishes the connection between two spatial regions of interest (ROIs) with the assistance of linear temporal correlation. Based on the psychological characteristics of patients with BN and the abnormal brain functional activities revealed by previous neuroimaging studies, in this study, we investigated alterations in regional neural activity by applying fALFF analysis and whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) in patients with BN in the resting state and to explore correlations between brain activities and eating behavior. We found that the left insula and bilateral inferior parietal lobule (IPL), as key nodes in the reorganized resting-state neural network, had altered FC with other brain regions associated with reward, emotion, cognition, memory, smell/taste, and vision-related functional processing, which may have influenced restrained eating behavior. These results could provide a further theoretical basis and potential effective targets for neuropsychological treatment in patients with BN.

The relationship between psychological characteristics of patients and their utilization of psychiatric inpatient treatment: A cross-sectional study, using machine learning.

High utilizers (HU) are patients with an above-average use of psychiatric inpatient treatment. A precise characterization of this patient group is important when tailoring specific treatment approaches for them. While the current literature reports evidence of sociodemographic, and socio-clinical characteristics of HU, knowledge regarding their psychological characteristics is sparse. This study aimed to investigate the association between patients' psychological characteristics and their utilization of psychiatric inpatient treatment. Patients from the University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK) Basel diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum or bipolar affective disorders participated in a survey at the end of their inpatient treatment stay. The survey included assessments of psychological characteristics such as quality of life, self-esteem, self-stigma, subjective experience and meaning of psychoses, insight into the disease, and patients' utilization of psychiatric inpatient treatment in the last 30 months. The outcome variables were two indicators of utilization of psychiatric inpatient treatment, viz. "utilization pattern" (defined as HU vs. Non-HU [NHU]) and "length of stay" (number of inpatient treatment days in the last 30 months). Statistical analyses included multiple regression models, the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (lasso) method, and the random forest model. We included 112 inpatients, of which 50 were classified as HU and 62 as NHU. The low performance of all statistical models used after cross-validation suggests that none of the estimated psychological variables showed predictive accuracy and hence clinical relevance regarding these two outcomes. Results indicate no link between psychological characteristics and inpatient treatment utilization in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum or bipolar affective disorders. Thus, in this study, the examined psychological variables do not seem to play an important role in patients' use of psychiatric inpatient treatment; this highlights the need for additional research to further examine underlying mechanisms of high utilization of psychiatric inpatient treatment.