Journal of Psychiatric Practice最新文献

Objective: This study examined the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of individuals who attended the emergency department of a tertiary care center in Muscat, Oman following a suicide attempt.

Methods: A retrospective study (N=154) was conducted between January 2015 and June 2018. Information that was collected included sociodemographic variables (age, nationality, sex, marital status, and occupation), risk (medical comorbidities, psychiatric history, substance misuse, alcohol misuse, and previous history of suicide attempts), and precipitating factors, as well as the chosen methods for the suicide attempts.

Results: In all, 83.1% of the sample were Omanis, and women constituted 69.5%. The mean age of the sample was 27 years; 30% were students, 42% were unemployed, and 40.9% had a history of psychiatric disorders. Family conflict, suffering from chronic illness, and having social problems were the most common precipitating factors for the suicide attempt. The most common method used in the suicide attempt was drug overdose (48.1%), mainly involving paracetamol (acetaminophen) (40%). Significant gender differences emerged in precipitating factors, history of substance misuse, and methods of suicide.

Conclusions: The data from this study are consistent with international trends that suggest that women and younger age groups are the most vulnerable to suicide attempts. Although in its infancy, the type of research presented here could lay the groundwork for preventive interventions and programs.

Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS), an under-recognized and seemingly paradoxical condition, arises in some adolescents and adults who chronically use cannabis. It presents acutely with intractable nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain but standard antiemetic therapy leads to improvement for only a minority of patients. Randomized controlled trial evidence in adults indicates the superiority of haloperidol over ondansetron in alleviating the acute symptoms of CHS, but safe and effective treatment for adolescents with the disorder is currently unknown. The successful use of topical capsaicin has also been reported. We report a case series of 6 adolescent patients with CHS who presented to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital and were treated with haloperidol, lorazepam, and/or capsaicin. Four patients given 5 mg intravenous (IV) haloperidol and 2 mg IV lorazepam and 1 patient treated with 5 mg IV haloperidol and peri-umbilical topical capsaicin (0.025%) experienced full acute symptomatic relief. One patient, treated only with topical capsaicin, reported improvement of symptoms with some persistent nausea. Haloperidol/lorazepam, haloperidol/capsaicin, and topical capsaicin alone appear safe and effective in adolescents, but larger studies are required to confirm our findings.

Introduction: Weight is a factor that influences the dosages of many medications, although no clinical studies have evaluated this factor in the use of agitation medications in the obese population. The objectives of this study were to assess the need for weight considerations in dosing antipsychotics and benzodiazepines for patients with agitation and to assess prescribing patterns in agitated patients.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study compared outcomes between obese and nonobese adult patients who received at least one parenteral administration of an antipsychotic or benzodiazepine for agitation in the emergency department. The primary outcomes were total antipsychotic and benzodiazepine doses within 24 hours (in chlorpromazine equivalents and lorazepam equivalents, respectively). Key secondary outcomes included antipsychotic and benzodiazepine doses used for first administration, incidence of repeat emergency medication administration within 24 hours, time to next administration, and number of repeat administrations within 24 hours.

Results: The study examined 115 patient encounters in each cohort of patients in the study. The baseline characteristics of the 2 study cohorts were similar. Both groups had similar mean 24-hour antipsychotic usage [272.7 chlorpromazine equivalents (nonobese cohort), 313.5 chlorpromazine equivalents (obese cohort); P=0.157] and mean 24-hour benzodiazepine usage [0.9 lorazepam equivalents (both cohorts); P=0.750]. Differences between the study cohorts on all of the secondary outcomes were also not statistically significant (P>0.05).

Discussion: This study did not find the use of higher dosages of agitation medication in the obese compared with the nonobese population. Future prospective trials, with possible emphasis on individual medications, specific etiologies of agitation, or morbid obesity, are required to confirm this finding or to elucidate potential differences in optimal medication dosages for the obese population.

The author queried 32 colleagues about their sense of polarization in the field of psychotherapy, using as an example the contrast between generalists (like himself) and specialists. This query was inspired by the proliferation of brands of psychotherapy coupled with the dominance of cognitive-behavioral therapies. His key conclusions: (a) tensions in the field are associated with a multitude of polarities and individual differences; (b) it is folly to reduce polarization to any single polarity; and (c) given the field's huge diversity, we are all specialists. While the author advocates greater integration of theories and methods, he also argues for expansion by including ethical thought into the scientific zeitgeist. He proposes skill in being human as a broad aspiration for therapists and patients.

Background: Cognitive symptoms are a core feature of depressive disorders, interfere with full functional recovery and are prominent in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD), particularly in severe chronic cases. Intranasal (IN) esketamine was recently approved for the treatment of TRD; however, its effects on cognitive symptoms are unclear. In this article, we describe cognitive changes in 8 patients with chronic TRD who were treated with IN administration of esketamine.

Methods: Eight outpatients with chronic TRD received IN esketamine over 3 months and were assessed at baseline and after 4, 8, and 12 weeks of treatment using the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST), the Trail Making Test-B (TMT-B), the Patient Deficits Questionnaire for Depression 5-item (PDQ-D5), the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HARS), and the Clinical Global Impressions Scale (CGI).

Findings: We observed reductions in cognitive symptoms according to DSST, TMT-B, and PDQ-D5 scores within the first 2 months of treatment with IN esketamine. These improvements were observed before patients achieved clinical response (≥50% decrease in baseline MADRS scores), and they also occurred earlier than reductions in HARS scores.

Conclusions: A clinical response to IN esketamine was detected in severely ill patients with chronic TRD after 3 months of treatment. Interestingly, improvements on measures of cognitive symptoms were observed before patients achieved antidepressant response. These preliminary observations suggest an additional value to the antidepressant properties of IN esketamine. Clinical studies specifically investigating cognition as a primary outcome measure of IN esketamine in TRD are warranted.

Human trafficking, which includes sex and labor trafficking, is a pressing issue that needs to be more adequately addressed. Health care professionals have a unique opportunity to assist people who are experiencing human trafficking. However, no consensus exists concerning the involvement of law enforcement through mandatory reporting of trafficked adults. This column uses argument-based ethics to analyze existing literature on ethical justification for mandatory reporting laws. It also recommends areas of growth for health care professionals and ethicists concerned about the use of mandatory reporting for human trafficking.

Objectives: Up to 20% of individuals who die by suicide have visited an emergency department (ED) within 4 weeks of their death. Limited guidance is available regarding the modification of clinical outcomes following a psychosocial intervention in the ED for pediatric and adult populations.

Methods: A systematic review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines was conducted to identify studies focused on single-session psychosocial interventions for pediatric and adult patients experiencing suicide-related thoughts or behaviors (SRTB) in the ED. Two reviewers independently screened articles identified using the key terms suicide/self-harm, emergency department, and interview. Medline, PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and CENTRAL were searched from inception to August 2018.

Results: After screening 3234 abstracts, 29 articles were selected for full-text review and 14 articles, representing 8 distinct studies (N=782), were included. A high level of heterogeneity was present in the included articles, with 7 randomized-controlled trials, 2 nonrandomized-controlled trials, 2 cohort studies, 2 observational studies, and 1 feasibility study. Most of the included studies focused on adolescents (6 articles) or military veterans (7 articles). Strong statistical evidence of ED interventions improving outpatient service linkage was supported (χ2: 81.80, P<0.0001, 7 studies).

Conclusions: The findings of this study suggested promising outcomes for patients presenting to the ED with SRTB who receive a single-session psychosocial intervention. All of the studies that measured such outcomes found significantly increased follow-up care in the intervention arm. Further research is needed to strengthen the evidence base, provide better patient representation, and improve our understanding of the mechanisms by which the psychosocial intervention for SRTB in the ED ameliorates patient outcomes (CRD42020156496).

Objective: Lock to Live is an interactive web-based lethal means safety decision aid that promotes temporary storage of firearms and medications. It has primarily been provided to suicidal patients in emergency department settings. The goal of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the Lock to Live decision aid with hospitalized adults at increased risk of suicide.

Methods: Subjects provided demographic information and completed the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale after which they completed the Lock to Live program followed by a survey.

Results: Twenty participants were recruited for this study, 5 of whom had access to firearms and 19 of whom had access to medications. Lock to Live was feasible to use as the mean length of time to complete the program was 10.0±5.3 minutes. It was acceptable to most participants as 75% of participants found it to be easy to use, and 65% of participants agreed that Lock to Live was helpful in making a decision about changing access to firearms/medications.

Conclusion: Lock 2 Live decision aid appears to be a feasible and acceptable tool for hospitalized patients at risk for suicide.