2023 CiteScore: 4
pISSN: 1735-4587
eISSN: 2008-2215
Editor-in-Chief:
Mohammad Reza Mohammadi, MD.
This journal is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Vol 2 No 2 (2007)
Articles
-
Abstract: In developing countries, little evidence is available on the mental health status of health care providers, especially doctors. Therefore, the aim of this study is to obtain an estimation on the prevalence of depression amongresident doctors of medical universities in Tehran, Iran. Method: The study population consisted of 2251 resident doctors who worked in the hospitals of 3 medical universities located in Tehran.Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used as the main instrument of thisresearch Results: The response rate was 68.28%.31.2% of the total study population had symptoms of depression (26% of the males and 39% of the females).Symptoms of depression were 2.3 times more frequent in females. Mostdepressed physicians did not have a history of psychiatric visit or treatment.Conclusion: This study demonstrates that depression is common among Iranian residents(particularly in females); however, most of them do not seek any treatment. This may lead to serious impacts on health behavior of the community in general.Moreover, depression may seriously affect physicians professional function.
-
Abstract: Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) is an instrument used to evaluate the severity of social phobia. It has been widely used in different contexts and cultures, presenting variable psychometric properties. The aim of this study is to investigate the psychometric properties of LSAS. Method: The sample consisted of 342 students (184 females, 158 males) aged 19 - 34(Mean age=21.93, SD=3.44 years); Subjects were selected from eight faculties of Isfahan University, using a random clustering procedure. In order to measure test-retest reliability, LSAS was re-administered to fifty-eight students three weeks after the first session. Results: The method of Principal components analysis (Varimax Normalized Rotation) was applied to evaluate structural validity of LSAS. The factor analysis defined 5 factors which covered 84.68% of the total variability of the data. The five factors extracted were: 1) speaking in a group; 2) social interaction in leisure activity; 3) activity in public; 4) attitude of disagreement or disapproval;and 5) social interaction with unknown person. The reliability coefficients (Cronbach alpha, split-half and test- retest) were found to be satisfactory for the total scale and its subscales. Conclusions: The scale is valid and reliable for studies that require a standard
-
Objective: Exposure to traumatic stressors lead to activation of arousal responses mediated by serotonergic and noradrenergic systems and it may cause a change in numerous neurotransmitters and neuroendocrine systems. There is ample experimental and clinical evidence to suggest that Ginkgo biloba extract is neuroprotective and has antioxidant properties and can restore stress-induced elevation in brain levels of catecholamines, 5-HT and plasma corticosterone to normal level.
Method: In a 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, the efficacy and safety of adding-on a fixed-dose (200mg) of Ginkgo TD to the previous treatment regime of adults with PTSD were examined. Subjects were forty male and female outpatients from a public-owned psychiatric clinic who met criteria for PTSD seven month after a 6.3 Richter earthquake in Bam city on December 26, 2003. The changes in five symptom domains including posttraumatic stress, anxiety and affective symptoms, general health and subjective stress after trauma were ssessed at weeks 0, 12 and 16 to examine effectiveness of the added-on Ginkgo TD and stability of its effects.
Results: Ginkgo TD was associated with a significantly greater improvement than placebo in PTSD patients as measured by five symptom domain scales including: GHQ-28; Watson PTSD Scale; HAM-D; HAM-A and IES (p= 0.02, 0.01, 0.001, 0.01, 0.02 respectively) Four weeks after the discontinuation of intervention, no significant difference was determined between the two groups in the five outcome measures (p= 0.005, 0.01, 0.004, 0.005, 0.01 respectively). No significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of side effects.
Conclusions: We found Ginkgo TD to be superior to placebo as an adding-on in the treatment of PTSD. Although we did not examine the comparative efficacy of Ginkgo TD on the three main elements of PTSD, beneficial effects both on specific PTSD symptomatology and general conditions including anxiety, depression, general health and perceived stress were indicated. -
Objective: "n To study the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).
Method: The data for this study was collected from the psychiatric clinic of Hafez hospital and 16 regular schools in four regions of Shiraz using stratified random sampling .The 25 items of the SDQ were completed for 379 boys and 377 girls. The 756 participants aged 3-18 were divided to 3 groups according to age classification.The SDQ was completed by parents, teachers and adolescents according to their age. Clinical interview was performed for 155 children and adolescents who referred to the psychiatric clinic.
Results: The mean age of the children was 10.3 years (SD=3.6, range 3-18 years). Children were divided to 3 groups: 1) among the participants 17 (2.3%) were aged 3-4 years,; 2) 409 (54%) were aged 4-11 years, and 3) 330 (43.7%) were aged 11-16 years. Good internal consistencies were found for the self report SDQ scales (mean ل for subscales 0.628). For the teacher SDQ scales, the internal consistencies were lower than the self-report scales (mean ل for subscales 0.454). The lowest internal consistencies were found for the parents SDQ scales. There was sufficient convergent and discriminant validity.
Conclusions: The Persian translation of the self reported SDQ has acceptable psychometric properties. Internal consistency of the self-report SDQ was good.The mean inter-informant correlations of the SDQ scales were satisfactory. -
Objective: The aim of the present study is to examine the factors related aggression in Iranian and Indian school children.
Method: Attachment security (dependency, availability, and total) considered as the variable. The KSS questionnaire was administrated students in the 5th grade; 300 were Iranian and 300 were Indian consisted of 150 boys and 150 girls).
Results: Attachment security demonstrated significant negative correlations with aggression in the boys, girls and the total Iranian sample. The dependency on mothers was the only case with insignificant correlation.In the Indian sample, attachment security was also found to be significantly negatively correlated with aggression. The only exception was the correlation between mother's availability and aggression in girls, which was not significant
Conclusion: It is important that parents treat their children in a tender, manner so that a secure attachment develop between them. -
Objective: The objective of this study is to examine Eysenck personality dimensions in cannabis users Method:100 regular cannabis users were selected and completed Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) which easures Neuroticism (N),Extraversion-Introversion (E-I) and Psychoticism (P) dimensions of Eysenck personality structures Results:The scores of 51% of cannabis users were higher than mean in all dimensions of EPQ. Also the mean score of N and P were higher than the score which Eysenck has reported for Iranian population Conclusions:This research reinforces our call for a public health information campaign about a drug which may young people still see as being risk-free.Psychiatric morbidity and cases of psychotic disorder could be prevented by discouraging cannabis use among vulnerable youths.
-
Objective: Although there are some reports of reduction of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in manic episodes or its exacerbation during depressive episodes, this relationship has not been proved.
Method: Clinical observations of six cases with co-morbidity of bipolar-I-disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder or symptoms.
Results: The cases presented here show heterogeneity and variety of the relationships between the obsessions and bipolar-I-disorder.Limitations: Low sample size and non-random sampling.
Conclusions: This variety of clinical presentations may indicate the presence of different clinical groups that their validity should be assessed through more systematized studies. -
Objective: This study assessed the effect of paradox in family therapy.Paradox, as a therapeutic tool, has been developed by a number of therapists,especially Mara Selvini Palazzoli.
Metho d: This study benefited from the Milan Systems Approach to family. Two clients (both females) were selected for this study. These two girls were the symptomatic members of their families. The families participated in 16 sessions of the therapies. Then, they were followed up for two years. All the family members filled the FAD and BDI questionnaires prior to the therapy, in the tenth session, after the therapy and three months later.
Results: Results showed that in appropriate cases paradox had a satisfactory outcome. This method reduced the symptomatic behavior, and affected family system as a whole and also helped the family system to become more practical and functional. Case #1 was depressed and on medication for four years prior to the start of the family therapy. Two years later, she recovered and got married. Case #2, was also depressed. After the therapy, she did not need to take medication; she finished high school and entered university.
onclusion: Paradox is a powerful tool for family therapy. It is a creative and critical solution for long-term illnesses. However, we should keep in mind that this technique should be used as the last option in the course of family therapy and only after other techniques failed to be effective. Caution should be taken when using this technique in therapy.
