A number of original articles as well as a short article and a case report are presented in this issue together with the abstracts of the posters as well as symposia of this year's International Forum of Mood and Anxiety Disorders (IFMAD) Meeting, to be held in Budapest, Hungary, from 5 to 7 December 2007.
Axelrod and colleagues addressed the important question of how to improve evaluation of the clinicians’ understanding of the quality of a traumatic event. This understanding is a necessary first step requirement for a diagnosis for post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) as defined by DSM-IV-TR. The seeming lack of clarity was evaluated by having fictional scenarios rated as traumatic or not by mental health clinicians. It emerged that psychiatrists and psychologists consistently rated events less likely to be traumatic than did social workers. Colleagues with less professional experience were more likely to indicate that an event was traumatic. Research clearly indicates that criterion A1 for PTSD that includes both the intensity of a stressful event and one's emotional reaction to the stressor needs to be refined to assist clinicians in objectively demarcating events consistent with the trauma and those that are not considered traumatic according to the existing definition.
In the second article the topic of depression in diabetic outpatient population is covered by Daly et al. Based on the results in 92 patients it emerged that Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) affects one in every 4 patients with diabetes and that there is a association between depression and hyperglycemia, as well as impairment in disease self-management. The authors emphasized that combination screening strategies for both diabetes and major depression may facilitate prompt detection of depression as well as providing an ongoing measure specific psychiatric symptoms.
Hrdlicka and Dudova studied 47 schizophrenic patients with an average age of 16.5 years and assessed the therapeutic effects and tolerability of risperidone. It emerged that risperidone in doses between 2 and 6 mg has been found to be an effective and safe treatment for schizophrenia and other related psychotic disorders in adolescents in the sample obtained in a Czech population. Moreover, it was suggested that the sensitivity of the adolescent population to side effects seems generally to be higher than that in the adult population.
Castle and colleagues from Australia investigated the effects of group intervention for bipolar disorders. It emerged that a psychosocial group based on intervention for Bipolar I and II patients which was delivered as an adjunct to treatment as usual resulted both in a reduction of relapse and improvement in functionality. Furthermore, it could be concluded that group intervention is a cost-effective way of delivering psychosocial treatments.
The question of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) has been studied by Iwahashi and his Japanese colleagues. AAT is used a therapeutic tool to improve social, emotional as well as cognitive functioning in psychiatric patients in Europe and America. It seems that this is a new concept for Asian countries. It emerged that Japanese patients liked dogs and horses and understood that the contact with these animals helped them in various psychiatrically important aspects. The colleagues indicated that this study helps to develop the AAT program in Japan. However, it does not seem that it needs to be developed in Japan only but also in a number of psychiatric facilities in Europe.
Topiramate-induced psychotic exacerbation was discussed in a case-report and literature review from Karslioglu et al from Turkey. The colleagues used a dosis of 100 mg/d of topiramate in an undiagnosed schizophrenia patient. The discontinuation of topiramate did not result in an improvement of the psychotic symptomatology so treatment with olanzapine (10 mg/d) was initiated and titrated upwards to 30 mg/d. Topiramate is used for its weight-losing properties as well as possible treatment of negative symptoms. Clinicians should be aware of this possible side effect that of course needs to be further substantiated in controlled studies.
The 7th International Forum of Mood and Anxiety Disorders (IFMAD) Meeting will be held for the first time in Budapest, Hungary, from 5 to 7 December 2007. IFMAD has become an important forum for the exchange of ideas on the latest development in psychiatric treatments where international experts can address some of the important topics in the field of mood and anxiety disorders in an informal atmosphere. The scientific contributions are grouped in main symposia as well as poster presentations. The abstracts of this meeting are presented in this issue and give the opportunity for a focused discussion of new data in a constructive and productive environment. The topics address issues on how to improve signal detection in placebo-controlled studies as well as problems underlying suicide attempts in psychopharmacological trials and Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD). The treatment of depression and anxiety in the “post-SSRI” era and the importance of sleep and depression, everyday problems in treating depression with a focus on SNRIs as well defining the boundaries for antidepressant treatment will be elaborated. The topic of pain as a neglected symptom of affective disorders as well as treatment of the elderly and diagnosis as well as receptor issues in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders will be discussed.
We do hope that this issue together with the abstracts of the 7th IFMAD meeting will provide further evidence for a better understanding and treatment of psychiatric patients.