Classifying psychiatric disorders as communicable diseases

Psychiatric emergencies (part II): psychiatric disorders coexisting with organic diseases.

BACKGROUND In this Part II psychiatric disorders coexisting with organic diseases are discussed. "Comorbidity phenomenon" defines the not univocal interrelation between medical illnesses and psychiatric disorders, each other negatively influencing morbidity and mortality. Most severe psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression, show increased prevalence of card...

[Sleep disorders associated with psychiatric diseases].

Sleep is a sensitive indicator of well-being and a helpful early-warning symptom in many psychiatric disorders. Healthy sleep and a balanced sleep-wake rhythm are desirable goals of a salutary conduct of life. Preventive and psychoeducational measures should take up this point. Non-organic sleep disorders are commonly associated with psychiatric diseases such as major depressive disorder, hypom...

Translational studies of goal-directed action as a framework for classifying deficits across psychiatric disorders

The ability to learn contingencies between actions and outcomes in a dynamic environment is critical for flexible, adaptive behavior. Goal-directed actions adapt to changes in action-outcome contingencies as well as to changes in the reward-value of the outcome. When networks involved in reward processing and contingency learning are maladaptive, this fundamental ability can be lost, with detri...

Psychiatric diseases presenting as infectious diseases.

Although many psychiatric diseases have somatic manifestations, some focus on fears or delusions of infection. When a patient with a psychiatric basis for an apparent infection presents to an infectious disease physician, the physician may find the problem confusing, amusing, and ultimately frustrating until the psychiatric basis for disease is recognized. Some of these psychiatric disorders ca...

Communicable Diseases