Mental health articles
OF mental health care and mentally ill
research report
Physiological Theories of Sleep Sleep is due to changes in the cerebral cirilation. A lack of blood in the brain causes what is known as cerebral anæmia. This cerebral anaemia may be due to a dilatation of the blood-vessels of the skin, which causes a fall of blood pressure in the brain. Sleep naturally results, […]
Tags: physiological, sleep
Posted in research report | No Comments »
Typical antipsychotics mechanism of action
Typical antipsychotics Mechanism of action Extensive research was undertaken into the mechanisms of action of typical antipsychotics. This has led to the development of a range of theories regarding the pathology of psychosis. Over time, it became clear that it was the ability to act as a dopamine antagonist that produced the clinically desirable effect, […]
Tags: action, antipsychotics, mechanism, typical antipsychotics
Posted in research report | No Comments »
Atypical antipsychotics mechanism of action
Atypical antipsychotics The term ‘atypical’ is applied to the second generation of antipsychotics owing to their reduced propensity to cause EPSEs. The fi rst of this group was clozapine, which was fi rst synthesised in 1958. After initial launch in the 1970s it was withdrawn because of the recognition of previously unidentifi ed and potentially […]
Tags: antipsychotics, atypical antipsychotics, mechanism
Posted in research report | No Comments »
Dopaminergic side effects
Dopaminergic side effects While dopamine D2 blockade in the meso-limbic pathway produces the desired symptom relief, three other pathways, the meso-cortical, nigro-striatal and tuberoinfundibular, all use D2 receptors and are also blockaded. This leads to a series of side effects dependent on the function of each pathway. Meso-cortical blockade has been implicated in the exacerbation […]
Posted in research report | No Comments »
Somatizing in children and adolescents
Most professionals accept the need to take a holistic approach bringing together the physical and psychological dimensions in the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents. Complaints of somatic symptoms are common in children presenting with psychological problems. This chapter deals more specifically with conditions in which the main complaints are of somatic symptoms and […]
Tags: adolescents, children, somatizing
Posted in research report | No Comments »
Eating disorders in children and adolescents
Eating disorders are conditions in which there is excessive preoccupation and concern with control of body weight and shape, with grossly restricted food intake. The term ‘eating disorder’ in children and adolescents covers a range of early onset conditions where one or all of the psychological, social and physical areas of functioning is involved. The […]
Tags: adolescents, children, eating disorders
Posted in research report | No Comments »
Factors associated with poor prognosis in anorexia nervosa
The chance of relapse or a poorer outcome is based on the following factors, which include: −Age of onset (younger do better) +Duration of illness +Severity of weight loss +Hyperactivity, vomiting +Bulimia and purging +Obsessive-compulsive symptoms −Hysterical personality +Difficulty with weight gain in the ward environment/short duration inpatient treatment −Ability to get weight into […]
Tags: anorexia nervosa
Posted in research report | No Comments »
Treatment efficacy: generalized anxiety disorder
Treatment efficacy: generalized anxiety disorder The NHS Centre for Reviews and Dissemination’s meta-analysis of the comparative efficacy of treatments for generalized anxiety disorder (2002e) found that both CBT and pharmacotherapy (predominantly drugs classed as benzodiazepines) are ‘effective treatments for GAD and that both yielded relatively large effect sizes on measures of anxiety severity at posttreatment’. […]
Tags: anxiety, disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, treatment
Posted in research report | No Comments »
Principles and practice of cognitive behaviour therapy
The cognitive theories and treatments in use today have generally followed on from Beck’s original theories. Broadly speaking, cognitive approaches to emotional disorders focus on two main areas of a person’s experience; the appraisals a person makes while in a situation, and the information processing biases that occur. In anxiety, appraisals that are made generally […]
Tags: behaviour, cognitive, cognitive behaviour therapy, therapy
Posted in research report | No Comments »
Body Dysmorphic Disorder Stories
Case study: body dysmorphic disorder Susan is a 33-year-old hairdresser who attended her GP following a recent bout of ill-health involving panic attacks, low mood, attempted suicide and avoidance of leaving the house. The problem began six weeks earlier when she developed a light rash (which she called spots) over her neck area. She believed […]
Tags: body dysmorphic disorder, disorder
Posted in research report | No Comments »