Effects of music on major depression in psychiatric patients.

The study was to assess the effectiveness of soft music for treatment of major depressive disorder inpatients in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. A pretestposttest with a two-group repeated measures design was used. Patients with major depressive disorder were recruited through referred by the psychiatric physicians. Subjects listened to their choice of music for 2 weeks. Depression was measured with the Zung's Depression Scale before the study and at two weekly posttests. Using repeated measures ANCOVA, music resulted in significantly better depressive scores, as well as significantly better subscores of depression compared with controls. Depression improved weekly, indicating a cumulative dose effect. The findings provide evidence for psychiatric nurses to use soft music as an empirically based intervention for depressed inpatients

Prevalence of suicide ideation and suicide attempts in nine countries.

Background. There are few cross-national comparisons of the rates of suicide ideation and attempts across diverse countries. Nine independently conducted epidemiological surveys using similar diagnostic assessment and criteria provided an opportunity to obtain that data. Methods. Suicide ideation and attempts were assessed on the Diagnostic Interview Schedule in over 40000 subjects drawn from the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, France, West Germany, Lebanon, Taiwan, Korea and New Zealand. Results. The lifetime prevalence rates/100 for suicide ideation ranged from 2·09 (Beirut) to 18·51 (Christchurch, New Zealand). Lifetime prevalence rates/100 for suicide attempts ranged from 0·72 (Beirut) to 5·93 (Puerto Rico). Females as compared to males had only marginally higher rates of suicidal ideation in most countries, reaching a two-fold increase in Taiwan. Females as compared to males had more consistently higher rates for suicide attempts, reaching a two- to three-fold increase in most countries. Suicide ideation and attempts in most countries were associated with being currently divorced/separated as compared to currently married. Conclusions. While the rates of suicide ideation varied widely by country, the rates of suicide attempts were more consistent across most countries. The variations were only partly explained by variation in rates of psychiatric disorders, divorce or separation among countries and are probably due to cultural features that we do not, as yet, understand