Reactions of psychiatric patients to telepsychiatry

Telepsychiatry could offer a viable medical service to remote or isolated social communities if it does not generate adverse reactions such as delusional ideation, particularly in patients in settlements without adequate exposure to mainstream culture and internet. We examined subjective reactions to telepsychiatry of randomly selected 84 psychiatric patients from remote locations in Ontario, Canada. They rated the quality of their teleconferencing sessions via 10 item questionnaire and were asked about advantages and disadvantages of telepsychiatry. The majority of patients indicated that they were able to communicate as if physically present (92.9%) and were comfortable with telepsychiatric service (95.2%). They found the sessions as beneficial as direct meetings with their psychiatrist (84.5%) and would use this service again (98.8%). There were no instances of telepsychiatry being associated with adverse reactions in patients from remote communities with inadequate exposure to modern mainstream culture and internet

Symptom profile patterns in patients with schizophrenia and substance abuse

We explored the relationship between symptoms of schizophrenia and the incidence of alcohol and substance abuse in 110 patients with schizophrenia diagnosed in accordance with DSM-III. Symptoms were obtained through a structured interview and review of the case file. Substance abuse was a problem in 45.5% of these patients and was significantly more frequent in males than in females (69.1% versus 30.9%). Surprisingly, those engaging in substance abuse presently or in the past did not differ significantly from those free of substance abuse with respect to the length or number of psychiatric hospitalizations after we controlled out data for age by means of parietal correlation coefficients. Further analyses examined correlations of substance abuse with 87 symptoms relevant in diagnosing schizophrenia. Very few significant correlations were found and all of these were weak (phi coefficients < .40). Reports of present alcohol abuse were associated with delusional symptoms and patients presently abusing drugs more frequently showed symptoms of other mental illness in addition to their schizophrenia. We conclude that substance abuse is largely independent of symptoms of schizophrenia