OBJECTIVE This study tested the hypothesis that reductions in acute public-sector psychiatric inpatient capacity in a major urban area would be associated with negative impacts on patients and the community. METHODS The impact of two discrete service changes that reduced acute inpatient capacity by 50% in a single public-sector general hospital setting was examined. Indicators of impact were ...

C atatonia is a motor dysregulation syndrome among psychiatric asylum patients that was delineated in 1874. The syndrome was so well characterized that within a few years its prevalence among psychiatric populations was reported from 6% to 38%, averaging 15% of hospitalized patients in the years since. In the mid–20th century, as psychiatric practice shifted from the asylum to the ambulatory cl...

Offering a new perspective on sleep state misperception, we discuss a patient who presented with sleep state misperception and was ultimately diagnosed with delusional disorder. A 60-year-old woman with chief complaints of insomnia, agitation, and suicidal ideation, was admitted to an inpatient psychiatric ward. Based on information from her family and a mental state examination, her primary di...

One hundred and thirty two women with normal breast screening results were interviewed six months after their attendance at the Edinburgh Breast Screening Clinic. Eight percent of women said screening had made them more anxious about developing breast cancer. Thirty eight percent said they were more aware of the disease since screening but they regarded this as advantageous. Seventy percent of ...

The death rate for persons in Stockholm born in 1905 has been investigated during a 9-year period (1971-1979). In 1971 these persons were invited to participate in a health check-up. Another check-up was carried out 3 years later, during which a psychiatric examination of 589 persons was undertaken. The correlation between depressive disorders and mortality was investigated in two steps. The de...

This is an examination of the extent to which patients who are violent in the hospital can be distinguished from nonviolent patients, based on information that is readily available at the time of admission to a state acute psychiatric hospital. The charts of 235 inpatients were examined retrospectively, by selecting 103 patients who had engaged in inpatient violence and comparing them with 132 ...

The aim of the present study is to evaluate the current psychopathological problems of different forms associated with maltreatment on children's and adolescents' mental health. Ninety-five females and ninety males with a mean age of 8.8 years who have suffered in the last six months different forms of abuse (physical, sexual, and emotional) and neglect were included in the study. The current r...

A selective review of the current methods of pain measurement and validation (psychophysical methods, verbal and analogical scales, psychological tests) is presented with emphasis on patient selection for surgical pain relief, and analysis of outcome. The identification of homogeneous groups of patients with clinical and research objectives is prevented by the lack of a reliable pain scale, bas...