Infertility and psychiatric morbidity.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between psychiatric disorders and infertility. DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Fertile and infertile volunteer couples in an academic research setting. PATIENT(S): Eighty-one infertile couples recruited from an infertility center before fertility treatment and 70 fertile controls recruited from an obstetrics and gynecology clinic. INTERVENTION(S): None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): The presence of Axis 1 psychiatric disorders. RESULT(S): The occurrence of current psychiatric disorders was significantly higher among infertile subjects than among fertile controls, especially for adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood (16% vs. 2%) and for binge eating disorder (8% vs. 0). CONCLUSION(S): Our data highlight that a percentage of infertile patients have already developed a psychiatric disorder at the time of their first contact with a specialized fertility service. Possible applications are discussed, including the recommendation that gynecologists screen for clinical or subclinical psychiatric disorders in infertility patients and offer treatment accordingl

Aspetti transnosografici dell'aggressività, una delle dimensioni psicopatologiche della mania

Objective: In the multiaxial DSM system, aggressiveness does not appear as a core organizer of any disorder. However, its importance is indicated by the fact that aggressive behavior is an indicator for the DSM and measures adaptation or disadaptation of patients affected by various disorders; this is reflected by the fact that the danger to damage oneself or another is associated with the lowest scores on the Global Assessment of Functioning scale. In our study we had the objective to descrive the distribution of the aggressiveness dimension in various psychiatric disorders, to analyse their biological correlates and to identify possible pharmacotherapeutic interventions. Method: Through a careful search performed on textbooks, journals and other scientific publications, we carried-out an extensive review of the literature on aggressiveness and psychiatric disorders in the past twenty years. Results: In a transnosographic view, the aggressiveness dimension, articulated in multiple manifestations and with a wide phenomenological «spectrum», finds itself able to characterize all currently classified psychiatric disorders. Among Mood Disorders, mania and the male model of depression present a higher amount of aggressiveness. Among Anxiety Disorders, aggressiveness appears to prevail in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Furthermore, it is frequently represented in both Schizophrenia and overall Psychotic Disorders. In Substance-Related Disorders, aggressive behavior is associated in both an increase of abuse conduct and some forms of abstinence. Antisocial and Borderline Personality Disorders, mostly if the latter occurs with comorbid Bulimia Nervosa, are characterized by aggressive traits more frequently than other Personality Disorders. Regarding the pathogenesis of aggressiveness, an involvement of the endogenous opioid system has been hypothesized. Endogenous opioids are released following self-harming actions, and trigger a positive reinforcement mechanism. The noradrenergic and dopaminergic systems also exert an important function in the regulation of aggressive behavior, in particular the outwardly directed one. However, the most numerous and empirically validated data regard the serotonergic system (Tab. I). Different brain areas proved to be involved in generating aggressiveness; the olfactory system, the amygdala, the septal area, the lateral hypothalamus, the rafé nuclei, right hemisphere, the frontal lobe, the medio-temporal lobe, the rostral portion of the cerebellar vermis. Studies carried out on drug treatment of aggressive behavior, show the efficacy of much dissimilar drugs. Overall, the evidence favoring serotonergic regulation of aggressive behavior allows to hypothesize a privilege for the use of the SSRIs in the treatment of aggressiveness in a dimensional and transnosographic perspective. Conclusions: Given the wide distribution of the aggressiveness dimension in various psychiatric disorders, the need for a higher ability to diagnose it and subtype it qualitatively within the disorders where it occurs most frequently becomes increasingly evident. This would allow to design more specific and targeted clinical treatment guidelines for the aggressiveness dimension

Validation of an italian version of the ACTG assessment of body change and distress (ABCD) questionnaire.

No validated questionnaires on the psychological impact of lipodystrophy exists. We validated an italian version of the ACTG assessment of body change and distess (ABCD) questionnaire

Does lipodistrophy affect quality of life?

Increases in life expectancy of people with HIV makes it important to consider quality of life (QOL) as an outcome of HAART. Lipodystrophy (LD) has the potential to affect patients' QOL, but little is known about this impact. We examined the QOL of HIV+ patients with and without lipodystrophy

Does lipodystrophy affect adherence? The cross-sectional GRAAL study

Previous studies have shown that patients evaluation of lipodystrophy and measurements of adherence is accurate. The cross sectional GRAAL study aims at analysing the impact of lipodystrophy on drug adherence, measured by self-assessment questionnaires

Lipodystrophy is related to high level of adherence

The role of lipodystrophy as a factor affecting adherence has been suggested by several authors, but up to now no clinical trials have been conducted to investigate this relation

Lipodistrophy is related to adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ARV)

It is not known whether lipodystrophy is related to adherence to ART. GRAAL is a prospective observational study to examine lipodystrophy and its relationship to medication adherence