Social Cognition in Child and Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa

Social cognition represents the mental processes of social interaction between oneself and others. In recent years, the interest in social cognition skills has increased in cases with eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that is associated with the multiple factors in etiology. Treatment of anorexia nervosa is still controversial. The youths diagnosed with anorexia nervosa are known to be as the most difficult group in eating disorders for building therapeutic relations. Studies, mostly suggests that there are difficulties in social cognitive functions in patients with anorexia nervosa. However, there are studies that reported different results. It seems that, the majority of studies which evaluate the social cognitive functions in patients with anorexia nervosa, are carried out with the adult age group. There are limited number of studies in child and adolescent age group. The purpose of this paper was to examinate the studies of social cognitive skills in children and adolescents diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and present the general characteristics. [Psikiyatride Guncel Yaklasimlar - Current Approaches in Psychiatry 2015; 7(2): 178-189

DRD4 genotyping may differentiate symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and sluggish cognitive tempo

Objective: Studies to reduce the heterogeneity of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have increased interest in the concept of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT). The aim of this study was to investigate if the prevalence of two variable-number tandem repeats (VNTRs) located within the 30 -untranslated region of the DAT1 gene and in exon 3 of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene differ among four groups (31 subjects with SCT but no ADHD, 146 individuals with ADHD but no SCT, 67 subjects with SCT + ADHD, and 92 healthy controls). Methods: We compared the sociodemographic profiles, neurocognitive domains, and prevalence of two VNTRs in SCT and ADHD subjects versus typically developing (TD) controls. Results: The SCT without ADHD group had a higher proportion of females and lower parental educational attainment. Subjects in this group performed worse on neuropsychological tests, except for psychomotor speed and commission errors, compared to controls. However, the ADHD without SCT group performed significantly worse on all neuropsychological domains than controls. We found that 4R homozygosity for the DRD4 gene was most prevalent in the ADHD without SCT group. The SCT without ADHD group had the highest 7R allele frequency, differing significantly from the ADHD without SCT group. Conclusion: The 7R allele of DRD4 gene was found to be significantly more prevalent in SCT cases than in ADHD cases. No substantial neuropsychological differences were found between SCT and ADHD subjects

Visual hallucination induced by duloxetine use: a male case diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder

Duloxetine is a serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor. It has been increasingly used in child and adolescent psychiatric practice in recent years. In this paper, we presented a 16-year-old male patient diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder who had developed visual hallucinations after treatment with duloxetine. The visual hallucinations resolved after duloxetine were stopped. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case from the adolescent age group who described visual hallucinations during duloxetine treatment

Iron Deficiency in the Pathophysiology of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Although attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder is one of the most studied disorders in medical literature, its etiology has not been completely elucidated. Clarification of the factors associated with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder is of significance for the curative treatment of the disorder. While literature states that iron deficiency may present a risk factor for the pathophysiology of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, the studies made on this subject so far have provided contradictory results. This article aims to analyze the studies of children and adolescents in literature made in Turkey and abroad on the levels of iron and iron-related parameters in blood, which are considered to be effective in the pathophysiology of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, compile the general characteristics of those studies and present the results. [Psikiyatride Guncel Yaklasimlar - Current Approaches in Psychiatry 2015; 7(1): 41-55

Escitalopram in Preschool-Age Children Diagnosed with ‎Obsessive ‎Compulsive‏ ‏Disorder: A Case Report‎

When a literature review on pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is ‎performed, it is observed that there is a dearth of research on preschool period OCD ‎cases. Although cognitive behavioral therapy is recommended as the first line of ‎treatment in preschool OCD cases when patients do not show adequate response to ‎CBT, psychopharmacological treatment offers an alternative. The first line used in ‎psychopharmacological treatment is selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI’s). ‎However, no SSRI’s (or any other drug group) have been approved by the FDA for this ‎age group. Moreover, studies related to psychopharmacology in preschool OCD are very ‎limited in the literature, consisting mostly of case reports related to sertraline and ‎fluoxetine. In those studies, it is reported that sertraline and fluoxetine are effective in ‎preschool OCD and generally well-tolerated. In this paper, we discussed the treatment ‎and six-month follow-up period of a 3.5 year-old (42 months) female diagnosed with ‎OCD and for whom escitalopram was used. In the literature, there is a retrospective case ‎series related to this subject consisting of eleven cases, where improvement in symptoms ‎is reported with escitalopram treatment in the five of six cases diagnosed with OCD. As ‎far as we could find in literature, our paper is the second report on this subject. Our case ‎also included the youngest patient to receive escitalopram for preschool period OCD ‎and report its benefits.

Social Cognition in Child and Adolescent Diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa

Social cognition represents the mental processes of social interaction between oneself and others. In recent years, the interest in social cognition skills has increased in cases with eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that is associated with the multiple factors in etiology. Treatment of anorexia nervosa is still controversial. The youths diagnosed with anorexia nervosa are known to be as the most difficult group in eating disorders for building therapeutic relations. Studies, mostly suggests that there are difficulties in social cognitive functions in patients with anorexia nervosa. However, there are studies that reported different results. It seems that, the majority of studies which evaluate the social cognitive functions in patients with anorexia nervosa, are carried out with the adult age group. There are limited number of studies in child and adolescent age group. The purpose of this paper was to examinate the studies of social cognitive skills in children and adolescents diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and present the general characteristics. [Psikiyatride Guncel Yaklasimlar - Current Approaches in Psychiatry 2015; 7(2): 178-189

The importance of internet usage for urologic patients

Objectives: To evaluate Internet usage frequency, rate of searched diseases and impact of Internet derived data on future patientphysician relationship in patients applying to an Urology Department. Methods: A well prepared questionnaire has been given to 1000 referring cases, out of which 589 accepted to participate on a volunteer basis to a face to face interview. Patients were divided into subgroups with respect to age, gender and as well as their educational and economical status. Regarding Internet, questions inquired the use of Internet, the point of view about it, opinions about healthcare system and most commonly urological diseases searched in Internet. Results: Of 589 patients participating, 38.2% reported access to the Internet; in relation to subgroup analysis of data, there was a statistically significant relationship between the use of Internet and age (p < 0.001), gender (p = 0.048), educational status (p < 0.001) and economical status of (p = 0.002) the cases evaluated. Diseasespecific information was most frequently sought: 18.2% searched for urolithiasis, 14.2% for non-cancer related kidney diseases, and 14.2% for urologic cancers. Conclusions: Younger patients with higher educational status tended to use Internet and the majority of these cases share all these information with their physicians during their visit. These findings indicate that all physicians should consider this fact seriously and make their future plans in the light of internet based activities which provides numerous advantages