A 72-year-old woman without any medical and psychiatric history, suffered from nausea, pain in the epigastria and constipation for over a year. She eventually lost 20 kilograms despite nightly drip-feeding. Extensive additional tests did not reveal any clues for her complaints. She remained convinced that her symptoms were a side-effect of anti-fungal medication she used. She was diagnosed with...

Hypochondriasis is a condition characterized by an unrealistic fear of having serious medical illness resulting in health anxiety. Currently, no evidence-based pharmacological treatment options are available for the hypochondriasis. Since selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) first-line option anxiety disorders, they may be useful relieving hypochondriasis symptoms. Moreover, off-labe...

Introduction. DSM-5 identifies two disorders: somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder, to replace hypochondriasis in DSM-IV. Patients with both disorders are intensely anxious about the possibility of an undiagnosed illness or devote excessive time and energy to health concerns and are not easily reassured. Both disorders cause considerable distress and life disruption, even at mo...

Six well investigated patients of primary hyperphagic obesity with hypochondrical disorder were sequentially treated with psychoeducational methods alone and psychoeducational methods with naltrexone hydrochloride 50 mg daily orally for six weeks each. RMANOVA revealed no statically significant (p>0.05) decrease in body mass index suggesting that psychoeducational methods with naltrexone were a...

Priapism is a urological emergency that results in a penile or clitoral engorgement, having several triggers by the use of medications, including psychiatric drugs, such as antipsychotics and antidepressants. The most common priapism presentation is the ischemic type that can result in the fibrosis of corporus cavernosus, with a significant risk of persistent erectile dysfunction. It is believe...

At the start of March, 2020, during Coronavirus pandemic, Italian Psychoanalytical Society (SPI) volunteers organized an emergency helpline. This consisted a limited series consultations by telephone or online, with four free sessions which would not lead to course psychotherapy. All operators carrying out this work gathered regularly in peer-supervision groups where they compared their and ful...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To determine the association between a clinician assessment of temperament in early adulthood and cause specific mortality. DESIGN Prospective observational study. SETTING Glasgow University. PARTICIPANTS 9239 male former students aged 16-30 (mean 20.5) years who participated in an ongoing health survey from 1948-68. A physician recorded free text assessment of temperament...

BACKGROUND Somatoform disorders are characterized by multiple recurring symptoms that resemble physical illnesses but defy medical explanation. Psychological models suggest that catastrophizing misinterpretations of harmless physical symptoms play a key role. However, the question of whether such biases predict somatoform-related symptoms and the onset of somatoform disorders has not been adres...