Dear colleagues,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the third issue of 2011.
In our first article Bajoghli et al. investigated the concept of romantic love in Iranian female adolescents. It emerged that compared to controls, participants in love had higher scores for hypomanic-like states, but not for better sleep quality or depressive symptoms. Moreover, hypomania scores increased with the duration of the romantic relationship, suggesting that culture-related issues might shape the way romantic love is experienced.
Duenas and colleagues assessed the reliability and validity of a new, patient-rated scale, the Integral Inventory for Depression (IID). They used post hoc analyses of data from a multi-country study of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). The results suggest that the IID may be a useful tool for measuring emotional and painful symptoms of MDD.
Lindström et al. from Sweden introduced a new observation scale, the so called Fast Assessment in Acute Treatment of Psychosis-Observation Rating Scale (FAST-O). In this study 111 patients were included, of whom 20 were forensic. They concluded that FAST-O is suitable for screening acutely psychotic patients.
The question of whether early improvement of symptoms may have an impact on the length of hospital stay in patients with schizophrenia was addressed by San et al. from Spain. In this naturalistic, retrospective, multi-centre study, 1346 schizophrenic patients required in patient care. It emerged that immediate response to medical intervention was a predictor of favourable outcome.
Karaman and colleagues from Turkey examined the changes in liver function tests after long-term risperidone treatment in children and adolescents. Risperidone treatment may rarely cause serious liver enzyme increases, however, the results showed that no evidence was found for clinically significant increases of liver enzymes and bilirubin levels.
The impact of obsessive beliefs on pharmacological treatment response in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in Turkey was assessed by Selvi et al. The belief scores in patients treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) decreased during the course of treatment. The study suggests that good response to SSRIs is associated with a reduction in obsessive beliefs.
Hosseini and colleagues investigated the rate of anger suppression and expression in patients with hypertension in Iran. The Spielberger questionnaire was used to assess trait anger, anger in and anger out. It was evident that compared to healthy individuals, trait anger and anger in were more common in patients suffering from hypertension. Therefore it seems suitable to provide information and education on anger management and emotional expression with regard to the anger issue as a psychosomatic aspect of hypertension.
In a preliminary study Nielsen and Wiig explored the cognitive and processing efficiency in adults with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The findings suggest that A Quick Test of cognitive speed (AQT) may be used to screen adults for executive dysfunction and reduced cognitive control associated with ADHD.
Lariviere et al. compared the clinical and functional changes and the satisfaction with services and costs in outpatients with inpatients in Canada. It emerged that outpatients were significantly more satisfied with the services provided while the inpatient group was less satisfied, resulting in a significantly higher number of persons rehospitalised. Moreover, the costs differed significantly between the two groups as the cost reduction per participant amounted to 38% in the outpatient group whereas in the inpatient group the reduction was only 7%.