Looking for pyromania: Characteristics of a consecutive sample of Finnish male criminals with histories of recidivist fire-setting between 1973 and 1993

BACKGROUND: As pyromania is a rare diagnosis with questionable validity, we aimed to describe a forensic psychiatric population of arson recidivists. METHODS: The medical records as well as the forensic psychiatric examination statements of 90 arson recidivists referred for pretrial psychiatric assessment in Helsinki University Hospital Department of Forensic Psychiatry between 1973 and 1993 were reviewed. RESULTS: The most important diagnostic categories of arson recidivists were personality disorders, psychosis and mental retardation, often with comorbid alcoholism. In all, 68% of arsonists were under alcohol intoxication during the index crime. Psychotic as well as mentally retarded persons with repeated fire-setting behaviour were mostly "pure arsonists"- persons guilty only of arsons during their criminal careers. Arson recidivists with personality disorder, in contrast, often exhibited various types of criminal behaviour and arson appeared to be only one expression of a wide range of criminal activity. Comorbid alcoholism was apparently a more rarely observed phenomenon among pure arsonists than in "nonpure arsonists". We found only three subjects fulfilling the present diagnostic criteria for pyromania. CONCLUSION: Using the criteria of the DSM-IV-TR, pyromania must be regarded as an extremely rare phenomenon. Especially the question of substance intoxication as an exclusion criterion for pyromania should be reconsidered

Validating measurement tools for mentalization, emotion regulation difficulties and identity diffusion among Finnish adolescents

Mentalization, emotion regulation, and identity diffusion are theoretically and clinically important transdiagnostic psychological constructs that contribute to mental health. In order to advance meaningful empirical research on these constructs, we need measures that are well tested. In this study, we used confirmatory factor analysis to assess the reliability and construct validity of the Mentalization Questionnaire (MZQ), different versions of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and the Assessment of Identity Development and Identity Diffusion in Adolescence (AIDA) with data from a general population of Finnish adolescents (N = 360). For MZQ, the factor structure and validity of the subscales were not confirmed. For DERS, a short version, that did not include the lack of emotional awareness subscale was the most coherent and recommendable version of the measure, with a good degree of reliability and a reasonable indication of the convergent and discriminative validity between the subscales. For AIDA, the factor structure was confirmed, but when using this measure for research purposes, it should be taken into account that reverse coding items may affect the factor structure by creating a method factor. The reliability of the AIDA was acceptable, but some of the subscales showed poor convergent and discriminative validity.Peer reviewe

Tuloksellisuus, kansainvälinen rankingmenestys ja yliopistojen profiloituminen. Vertailussa Aarhusin, Groningenin, Zürichin ja Turun yliopistot

Siirretty Doriast

Gender-Specific Risk Factors for Intimate Partner Homicide : A Nationwide Register-Based Study

Peer reviewe

Nuorten depression psykoterapeuttisten hoitomuotojen vaikuttavuus : systemaattiseen hakuun perustuva kirjallisuuskatsaus

•Kognitiivinen käyttäytymisterapia ja interpersonaalinen psykoterapia ovat vaikuttavia hoitoja nuorten depressioissa. •Perheterapia soveltunee nuorten depressioiden hoitoon etenkin silloin, kun perheeseen liittyvät tekijät selvästi kuormittavat nuorta. •Muiden psykoterapiamuotojen vaikuttavuutta nuorten depressioissa ei ole toistaiseksi tutkittu riittävästi. •Vaikuttavuustutkimuksen perusteella nuorten depressioiden ensisijaisina psykoterapeuttisina hoitoina voidaan pitää kognitiivista käyttäytymisterapiaa ja interpersonaalista psykoterapiaa.Peer reviewe

Nuorten itsetuhoisuuden ja epävakaiden piirteiden psykoterapeuttisten hoitomuotojen vaikuttavuus : Systemaattiseen hakuun perustuva kirjallisuuskatsaus

• Itsetuhoisten nuorten hoidossa suositellaan ensisijaisesti psykososiaalisia hoitoja. Myös tavanomainen hoito on tutkimuksissa vähentänyt itsetuhoisuutta, mutta ajankohtaisesti itsetuhoisille nuorille se ei yleensä ole riittävä. • Epävakaista piirteistä ja itsetuhoisuudesta kärsivät nuoret hyötyvät erityisesti dialektisesta käyttäytymis­terapiasta. Myös mentalisaatioon perustuvan terapian ja kognitiivis­analyyttisen psykoterapian vaikuttavuudesta on alustavaa tutkimusnäyttöä. • Nuorten itsetuhoisuuden ja myös epävakaiden piirteiden hoitomuodoissa perheterapeuttisten elementtien yhdistäminen psykoterapiaan on hyödyllistä. • Hoitosuositusten antamiseksi tarvitaan lisätutkimusta eri psykoterapiamuotojen vaikuttavuudesta.Peer reviewe

Education is the strongest socio-economic predictor of smoking in pregnancy

First published: 14 January 2018Aims To investigate socio-economic disparities in smoking in pregnancy (SIP) by the mother's education, occupational class and current economic conditions. Design Cross-sectional analysis with linked survey and register data. Setting South-western Finland. Participants A total of 2667 pregnant women [70% of the original sample (n=3808)] from FinnBrain, a prospective pregnancy cohort study. Measurements The outcome was smoking during the first pregnancy trimester, measured from the Finnish Medical Birth Register. Education and occupational class were linked from population registers. Income support recipiency and subjective economic wellbeing were questionnaire-based measures of current economic conditions. These were adjusted for age, partnership status, residential area type, parental separation, parity, childhood socio-economic background, childhood adversities (the Trauma and Distressing Events During Childhood scale) and antenatal stress (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale). Logistic regressions and attributable fractions (AF) were estimated. Findings Mother's education was the strongest socio-economic predictor of SIP. Compared with university education, adjusted odds ratios (aORs) of SIP were: 2.2 [95% confidence interval (CI)=1.2-3.9; P=0.011] for tertiary vocational education, 4.4 (95% CI=2.1-9.0; P<0.001) for combined general and vocational secondary education, 2.9 (95% CI=1.4-6.1; P=0.006) for general secondary education, 9.5 (95% CI 5.0-18.2; P<0.001) for vocational secondary education and 14.4 (95% CI=6.3-33.0; P<0.001) for compulsory schooling. The total AF of education was 0.5. Adjusted for the other variables, occupational class and subjective economic wellbeing did not predict SIP. Income support recipiency was associated positively with SIP (aOR=1.8; 95% CI=1.1-3.1; P=0.022). Antenatal stress predicted SIP (aOR=2.0; 95% CI=1.4-2.8 ; P<0.001), but did not attenuate its socio-economic disparities. Conclusions In Finland, socio-economic disparities in smoking in pregnancy are attributable primarily to differences in the mother's educational level (low versus high) and orientation (vocational versus general).Academy of Finland [287908,134950, 253270]Signe and Ane Gyllenberg Foundatio

Education is the strongest socio-economic predictor of smoking in pregnancy

Aims To investigate socio-economic disparities in smoking in pregnancy (SIP) by the mother’s education, occupational class and current economic conditions. Design Cross-sectional analysis with linked survey and register data. Setting South-western Finland. Participants A total of 2667 pregnant women [70% of the original sample (n = 3808)] from FinnBrain, a prospective pregnancy cohort study. Measurements The outcome was smoking during the first pregnancy trimester, measured from the Finnish Medical Birth Register. Education and occupational class were linked from population registers. Income support recipiency and subjective economic wellbeing were questionnairebased measures of current economic conditions. These were adjusted for age, partnership status, residential area type, parental separation, parity, childhood socio-economic background, childhood adversities (the Trauma and Distressing EventsDuring Childhood scale) and antenatal stress (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale). Logistic regressions and attributable fractions (AF) were estimated. Findings Mother’s education was the strongest socio-economic predictor of SIP. Compared with university education, adjusted odds ratios (aORs) of SIP were: 2.2 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.2–3.9; P = 0.011] for tertiary vocational education, 4.4 (95% CI = 2.1–9.0; P disparities. Conclusions In Finland, socio-economic disparities in smoking in pregnancy are attributable primarily to differences in the mother’s educational level (low versus high) and orientation (vocational versus general). </p