CONSORTIUM PSYCHIATRICUM

Psychiatric care has undergone several cycles of profound changes in the past centuries all over the world. In Hungary, community-based outpatient care has been showing signs of evolution since the 1950s. Initially, the system centered on assertive outreach and family involvement, especially for those with serious mental health problems. Such services remain available throughout the country, but the emphasis in the past decades has shifted towards mass care provision.
In many places, community-based services are no longer provided, and where they are the approach is biomedical and less asuming of recovery. In other centers, the services provided are conceived with the eventuality of rehabilitation in mind and in close cooperation with community-based care providers.
Community-based services providers, as part of the social fabric, offer as many psychiatric and rehabilitation services as possible for those with mental disorders within their communities. The main objective of community-based care is to achieve community re-integration and recovery from mental disorders. Today in Hungary, deinstitutionalisation
and the introduction of community-based psychiatric care have been adopted even by large inpatient institutions.
The replacement of institutional bed space and the provision of subsidised housing further underscore the importance of community-based psychiatric care provision. There is the opinion that, as a further course of development, the emphasis needs to now shift towards the nurturing of a community of experienced experts and creastion of user-led programs. In this new paradigm, the ability of a person with a mental disorder to make decisions and the bolstering
of that ability are seen as vital. In order to achieve these objectives, it is essential that health and social seervices professionals cooperate. Hands-on experience is key in the provision and development of such services.

Psychotherapy for people with acquired brain injury (ABI) is considered to be an important component of a holistic neuropsychological rehabilitation approach. This helps in making sense of the loss of the sense of self they experience. Gender, premorbid personality, and socio-cultural discourses guide this process of understanding. Narrative formulation takes these considerations into account and, thus, can be used for formulating therapeutic plans.
AIM: To present a case report which highlights the use of narrative case formulation to understand the psychological, social, and cultural factors forming the dominant discourse of a woman with ABI.

METHODS: Ms. VA, a 43-year-old female, presented herself with a diagnosis of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy with small chronic infarcts with gliosis in the bilateral cerebellar hemisphere, myoclonic seizures, mild cognitive impairment, depression, generalized dystonia, and bronchial asthma. Along with neuropsychological rehabilitation and cognitive
retraining, 25 sessions of psychotherapy using narrative formulation were performed.

RESULTS: Following the therapy, microgains such as a developing strong therapeutic relationship, accommodating vulnerability in her narrative, and finding moments of independence and assertion within the constraints of ABI were observed. Acceptance of her current predicament vis-à-vis her lost self and finding meaning in her new self were facilitated.

CONCLUSION: There is paucity of research detailing psychotherapeutic management of ABI, especially in India. Psychotherapy, particularly using narrative formulation, can be helpful in understanding the intersections of gender role and expectations, premorbid personality and ABI, and aiding the post-ABI rehabilitation and adjustment. Future work in this area can explore the socio-cultural aspects that play an important role in the therapy process.

BACKGROUND: Cannabis Hyperemesis Syndrome (CHS) is a condition characterized by episodic bursts of vomiting and abdominal pain linked to cannabis use. The clinical picture mimics an acute abdomen and is often misdiagnosed, especially when the patient avoids reporting their cannabis use for legal reasons.

CASE REPORT: We report on the case of a 33-year-old man that was brought to the emergency room with a history of 3 days of non-bloody, non-projectile, and non-bilious brownish vomit, coupled with severe epigastric and left hypochondriac pain, and a slight fever. He was a daily cannabis user for several years and had stopped using a week or so before the onset of the symptoms, as he was traveling to a country with more restrictive cannabis laws. His condition deteriorated rapidly, followed by emergency room attendance, thorough diagnostic work-up, and unsuccessful interventions, including intravenous treatment with the anti-emetic Ondansetron. The patient was referred to a psychiatrist after a suspected psychogenic etiology by the medical team. The history was suggestive of CHS and also included anxious, depressed
mood with ‘brain fog’. The abdominal pain was the most severe complaint. A combination of tramadol, promethazine, and mirtazapine given on an outpatient basis led to full recovery within 10 days.

CONCLUSION: CHS can occur soon after the interruption of chronic cannabis use and overlap with withdrawal symptom. A combination of anti-histaminergic, opioid-based medication, and antidepressant mirtazapine seemed an effective treatment of CHS, which resulted in a relatively quick recovery.

Self-stigma remains one of the most vexing issues in psychiatry. It complicates the treatment and
social functioning of patients with endogenous psychiatric disorders. Identifying the specific features of self-stigma depending on the type and duration of the endogenous mental illness can help solve this problem.

AIM: The aim of this study was to establish the level and specific features of self-stigma in patients with various types of chronic endogenous psychiatric disorders at different disease stages and to establish the correlation between the level of self-stigma and the attitude of the patient to his/her disease and treatment.

METHODS: Clinical psychopathology assessment, psychometric scales and questionnaires: “Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale” (PANSS), “Questionnaire for Self-Stigma Assessment in Mentally Ill Patients”, and Russian versions of the “Insight Scale for Psychosis” (ISP), and “Drug Attitude Inventory” (DAI-10). The cross-sectional study included 86 patients with endogenous mental illnesses (bipolar affective disorder and schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

RESULTS: The analysis of the results of the “Questionnaire for Self-Stigma Assessment in Mentally Ill Patients” showed that at the initial disease stages the highest level of self-stigma is observed in patients with bipolar affective disorder (M±σ=1.22±0.73; Me [Q1; Q3]=1.10 [0.83; 1.60]), while the lowest level was observed in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (M±σ=0.86±0.53; Me [Q1; Q3]=0.77 [0.31; 1.25]). Patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective
disorder and a disease duration more than five years participating in a long-term comprehensive psychosocial rehabilitation program also demonstrated high rates of self-stigma (M±σ=1.20±0.57, Me [Q1; Q3]=1.26 [0.89; 1.47]). The study groups showed differences in terms of the structure of components of self-stigma and their severity; significant correlations
were uncovered between the self-stigma parameters and the attitude of patients to their disease and therapy.

CONCLUSION: The results of this study contribute to a better understanding of the specific features of self-stigma in patients with various endogenous disorders at different stages of the disease. These data can be used as part of a comprehensive psychosocial treatment program for this patient cohort, as well as for future research.

Suicide cases in Mexico have increased during the last two years and are the second-leading cause of death in the young adult population.

AIM: To describe gender differences in violent suicide attempts as relates to diagnosis and the seeking of psychiatric care.

METHODS: A descriptive retrospective study was conducted. The referral forms of 241 patients who had attempted suicide were analyzed.

RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 29.1 (SD=10.8) years, n=140 (58.1%) of the sample were women. Affective disorders were the most frequent diagnoses for both sexes. Women were more likely to delay seeking psychiatric care: 60 days versus 30 days of delay for men (p=0.009). Men were shown to more frequently resort to violent suicide methods. Both women and men who used violent suicide methods were shown to delay by more days the seeking of
psychiatric care than those who were found to have used non-violent suicide methods.

CONCLUSION: We found that patients who use more violent methods of suicide took longer before seeking psychiatric care. This delay in accessing psychiatric care can be thought to contribute to the fact that completed suicides are more frequent within that category of patients. The majority of suicide attempts occurred in the 17–24 years age group; therefore, it seems reasonable to analyze the existing barriers to seeking psychiatric care, mainly in the young adult population, and to design strategies to bring mental health services closer to this population group.