The relationship between psychological characteristics of patients and their utilization of psychiatric inpatient treatment: A cross-sectional study, using machine learning

High utilizers (HU) are patients with an above-average use of psychiatric inpatient treatment. A precise characterization of this patient group is important when tailoring specific treatment approaches for them. While the current literature reports evidence of sociodemographic, and socio-clinical characteristics of HU, knowledge regarding their psychological characteristics is sparse. This study aimed to investigate the association between patients' psychological characteristics and their utilization of psychiatric inpatient treatment. Patients from the University Psychiatric Clinics (UPK) Basel diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum or bipolar affective disorders participated in a survey at the end of their inpatient treatment stay. The survey included assessments of psychological characteristics such as quality of life, self-esteem, self-stigma, subjective experience and meaning of psychoses, insight into the disease, and patients' utilization of psychiatric inpatient treatment in the last 30 months. The outcome variables were two indicators of utilization of psychiatric inpatient treatment, viz. "utilization pattern" (defined as HU vs. Non-HU [NHU]) and "length of stay" (number of inpatient treatment days in the last 30 months). Statistical analyses included multiple regression models, the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (lasso) method, and the random forest model. We included 112 inpatients, of which 50 were classified as HU and 62 as NHU. The low performance of all statistical models used after cross-validation suggests that none of the estimated psychological variables showed predictive accuracy and hence clinical relevance regarding these two outcomes. Results indicate no link between psychological characteristics and inpatient treatment utilization in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum or bipolar affective disorders. Thus, in this study, the examined psychological variables do not seem to play an important role in patients' use of psychiatric inpatient treatment; this highlights the need for additional research to further examine underlying mechanisms of high utilization of psychiatric inpatient treatment

Interpreting the Image of the Human Body in Premodern India

This paper sets out two main arguments. In part one, a description of the adherents of the various intellectual disciplines and religious faiths in premodern India is given, each having developed distinct and different imagined bodies; for example, the body described in Tantric circles had little or nothing in common with the body described in medical circles. In part two, an account is given of the encounter between Ayurvedic anatomy and early colonial European anatomy which led initially to attempts at synthesis; these gave way to an abandonment of the syncretist vision of the body and the acceptance of an epistemological suspension of judgment, in which radically different body conceptualizations are simultaneously held in unacknowledged cognitive dissonance

Paléographie et histoire des textes sanskrits

Bouy Christian. Paléographie et histoire des textes sanskrits. In: École pratique des hautes études. Section des sciences historiques et philologiques. Livret-Annuaire 19. 2003-2004. 2005. pp. 411-415

Paléographie et histoire des textes sanskrits

Bouy Christian. Paléographie et histoire des textes sanskrits. In: École pratique des hautes études. Section des sciences historiques et philologiques. Livret-Annuaire 17. 2001-2002. 2003. pp. 371-372

Paléographie et histoire des textes sanskrits

Bouy Christian. Paléographie et histoire des textes sanskrits. In: École pratique des hautes études. Section des sciences historiques et philologiques. Livret-Annuaire 14. 1998-1999. 2000. pp. 238-239

Paléographie et histoire des textes sanskrits

Bouy Christian. Paléographie et histoire des textes sanskrits. In: École pratique des hautes études. Section des sciences historiques et philologiques. Livret-Annuaire 19. 2003-2004. 2005. pp. 411-415

Paléographie et histoire des textes sanskrits

Bouy Christian. Paléographie et histoire des textes sanskrits. In: École pratique des hautes études. Section des sciences historiques et philologiques. Livret-Annuaire 18. 2002-2003. 2004. pp. 325-328

Just Not Enough: Utilization of Outpatient Psychotherapy Provided by Clinical Psychologists for Patients With Psychosis and Bipolar Disorder in Switzerland

Treatment guidelines state that evidence-based psychotherapy is effective for people with psychosis and bipolar disorder and should be offered during every phase of the treatment process. However, research has indicated a lack of outpatient psychotherapeutic services for this patient group, for example, in the United States or Germany. We extend this finding by presenting survey data from Switzerland. We surveyed 112 inpatients with a diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder or bipolar disorder and assessed outpatient treatment over the 5 years prior to their index hospitalization by using retrospective self-reports. The survey focused on psychotherapy provided by clinical psychologists. Results indicate that only 23.2% of participants retrospectively reported having utilized any outpatient psychotherapy within the reporting period and only 8% of participants reported having received a number of outpatient sessions that reaches recommended levels of psychotherapy. Exploratory analyses did not detect a significant association between self-reported utilization of outpatient psychotherapy sessions and most demographic, psychiatric, and psychological attributes, but patients with a bipolar disorder diagnosis (vs schizophrenia spectrum diagnosis) reported having utilized outpatient treatment more often. These findings are preliminary. When replicated they highlight the need for increased access to outpatient psychotherapy and better alignment between guideline recommendations and outpatient supply