RESUMEN

Acute exacerbations of psychosis have been reported with COVID-19 infection and medications used for its treatment. Terms "psychosis", "psychotic", "COVID-19″ and "coronavirus" were searched on "PubMed" and "GOOGLE SCHOLAR", yielding 84 articles. 14 case reports were selected based on pre-defined criteria and analyzed. Among selected articles,10 attributed psychosis to COVID-19 infection. In 3 articles, psychosis was diagnosed despite concurrent delirium. In 8 and 3 articles respectively, a clear temporal demarcation of psychosis and COVID-19 infection and steroid use was not described. Psychosis can occur secondary to GMC, or exposure to medication. Due process should be followed to ascertain the same. INTRODUCTION: Neurotropic coronavirus infection is associated with numerous neurological and neuropsychiatric manifestations. Such presentations before, during and after the infection have been reported. Among these presentations, acute exacerbations of psychosis have been reportedly linked with COVID-19 infection and medications used for its treatment. METHODOLOGY: Search engines "PubMed" AND "GOOGLE SCHOLAR" were searched using specific search terms during June 2021. Out of 84 articles that came up, we selected 14 articles based on pre-determined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Selected articles were analysed and discussed in the departmental journal club. RESULTS: In 10 articles, diagnosis of psychosis was attributed to COVID-19 infection. In 3 of those articles, despite reporting concurrent delirium like presentation, diagnosis was still reported as psychosis. In 8 articles, the temporal correlation between onset of psychosis, onset of COVID-19 was not clearly demarcated. In 3 articles, clear demarcation between psychosis associated with steroid use and with a general medical condition (COVID-19) was not clearly presented. Only 2 articles did mention using a structured diagnostic system. In patients (3/17) with prior history of psychiatric illness, diagnosis was reported as relapse of psychosis (2/17), without specifying the criteria used for diagnosing a relapse. CONCLUSION: Acute exacerbation of psychosis can occur secondary to a general medical condition (GMC), or after exposure to a medication. However, due process should be followed to ascertain that the psychosis is indeed secondary to a GMC, or a medication, and not a de-novo presentation, or delirium.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Context: Myths and stigma about suicide and mental health among doctors are widely prevalent in India. Didactic methods of teaching alone may not be adequate to bridge the knowledge gap. Methods: Fifty-seven MBBS students participated voluntarily by accepting an invitation. They were examined pre-intervention with the Suicide Opinion Questionnaire (SOQ) for their attitudes and beliefs about suicide. Students then underwent a custom-made extracurricular Suicide Sensitization and Prevention workshop. It consisted of a 120-min session that included a didactic session on the bio-psycho-social model of suicide and two role-plays demonstrating Suicide Prevention Early Intervention Communication (SPEIC). Students were examined again after seven days with SOQ, and with the SPEIC checklist. Results: Fifty students completed the study protocol. There was a 9.5% increase in SOQ scores post-intervention indicating a change toward positive attitudes/beliefs about suicide. The emotional perturbation subscale showed the highest degree of improvement, whereas the acceptability subscale showed the least improvement. Students were able to recall 40% and 60% from the Do-Checklist and the Do Not Checklist from the SPEIC after seven days from the workshop. There was no difference in SOQ performances pre- and post-intervention in students who knew someone with psychiatric illness, or with a history of an attempt or death by suicide. Conclusion: Using role-plays and interactive teaching methods can be effective in teaching psychiatry and mental health issues to medical students. The results indicate not only better understanding of subject matter but also recall after a week from the intervention.

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Increasing smartphone use has led to the introduction of smartphone addiction as a behavioral addiction with detrimental effects on health. This phenomenon has not been widely studied in the Indian context. This study assessed the rate of smartphone addiction in a sample of medical students, with a focus on its correlation with sleep quality and stress levels. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between November 2016 and January 2017 in 195 medical students. Their smartphone use, level of smartphone addiction, sleep quality, and perceived stress levels were measured using the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), respectively. RESULTS: Of the 195 students, 90 (46.15%) had smartphone addiction as per the scale. A self-reported feeling of having smartphone addiction, use of the smartphone right before sleeping, PSS scores, and PSQI scores were found to be significantly associated with the SAS-SV scores. Significant positive correlations were observed between the SAS-SV and PSS-10 scores, and the SAS-SV and PSQI scores. CONCLUSIONS: There is a high magnitude of smartphone addiction in medical students of a college in Western Maharashtra. The significant association of this addiction with poorer sleep quality and higher perceived stress is a cause for concern. The high self-awareness among students about having smartphone addiction is promising. However, further studies are required to determine whether this self-awareness leads to treatment seeking. Further studies are required to explore our finding of the association of smartphone addiction with using the smartphone before sleeping.

RESUMEN

Abdominal Epilepsy (AE) is a variant of temporal lobe epilepsy and is commonly seen in pediatric age group. There are however, multiple reports of abdominal epilepsy in adolescents and even in adults. Chronic and recurrent gastrointestinal symptoms with one or more neuropsychiatric manifestations are often the presenting picture for a patient with AE. Such patients therefore, are more likely to consult a general practioner, a physician, a surgeon or a gastroenterologist than consulting a psychiatrist or a neurologist. We hereby present such a case of AE in an adult with review of similar reports.

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Suicide is a grave mental health problem in India, and suicide rates in India have risen over the past decades. Suicide reporting by the media is a common cause for spurts of suicides that may occur from time to time. The aim of the present study was to assess the change in trends in media reporting of suicide after a celebrity suicide. METHODOLOGY: Suicide by the renowned actor Robin Williams was selected as the reference case. The top three Indian daily newspapers published in English having the highest circulation as per the Registrar of Newspapers, Government of India report were selected to be scanned in the study. These were the Times of India - Mumbai edition, Mumbai Mirror, and the Daily News Analysis - Mumbai edition. The authors screened all news stories in the three newspapers within a 6-month period (3 months prior and 3 months post the date of the reference suicide case), and these news reports were evaluated as per the suicide reporting guidelines for media laid down by the Indian Psychiatric Society. The data were analyzed using Chi-square test and descriptive statistics where appropriate. RESULTS: A total of 708 newspaper articles were identified on the basis of the guidelines mentioned above. Nearly 88% (n = 623) of the articles directly covered suicide while 4.09% (n = 29) focused on suicidal threats and 7.91% (n = 56) focused on parasuicide behavior. There was a significantly greater increase in the total number of articles printed after the celebrity suicide (n = 409) for all article types except teasers as compared to that before the celebrity suicide (n = 299). There was a significantly greater increase in front page news on suicide after the celebrity suicide (P = 0.0016), description of the method of suicide (P = 0.0221), and the mention of the suicide notes (P = 0.0002). Most articles after the celebrity suicide placed the blame on someone or the environment for the act (P = 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: A change in media trend toward reporting suicide was noted post a celebrity suicide, and it is important that media follow guidelines stringently when reporting a serious problem like suicide.