OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to examine the efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) combined with antipsychotic (AP) medication on symptom profile in patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia who had received acute psychiatric inpatient treatment. METHODS: In this prospective study, patients were evaluated for inclusion in the study who were diagnosed with schizophrenia according to DSM-IV diagnostic criteria and were to receive ECT. The patients were evaluated using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS), Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), and Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I) sub-scale before the first session ECT, once following every two subsequent sessions and after the final session. RESULTS: The patients showed significant improvements in BPRS scores at each evaluation compared with their scores at baseline, and a significant clinical improvement was found on the CGI-I sub-scale at the end of treatment. Across all SAPS sub-scores, significant decreases were found, and the symptoms related to hallucinations and positive formal thought disorder showed the most rapid response to treatment. Across all SANS sub-scores, significant decreases were found, and affective flattening or blunting symptoms responded most rapidly to treatment. CONCLUSION: One of the most important findings in the present study of hospitalized patients with acute schizophrenia was the good response to treatment, which provided significant improvements in both positive and negative symptoms. The most rapid response to treatment was found for hallucinations, positive formal thought disorder, and affective flattening or blunting symptoms. The most important limitation of our study may be the small number of cases. In future, well-standardized studies using a double-blinded, comparative, prospective design and including a sufficient number of patients are needed.

Halüsinojen amaçlı benzidamin kötüye kullanımı: Olgu sunumu Benzidamin hidroklorid, analjezik, antipiretik ve antimikrobiyal özellikleri olan non-steroid antiinflamatuar bir ilaçtır. 500 mg ve üstü dozlarda halüsinojenik etkisi nedeniyle eğlence amaçlı kötüye kullanıldığı bilinmektedir. Bu yazıda çoklu madde kötüye kullanımı nedeniyle yatırılan 22 yaşında erkek hastanın beraberinde benzidamin kötüye kullanımı da olması nedeniyle sunulması amaçlanmıştır. Benzidaminin internette popüler hale gelmesi, ucuz olması ve özellikle reçetesiz olarak kolayca elde edilebilir oluşu kötüye kullanımını destekleyen etkenler olarak görünmektedir.

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Context:The concept of posttraumatic growth (PTG) is important to focus on positive outcomes of a challenging process like caregiving.Aims:The aim of the present study is to investigate the factors inclusively considered to be related to PTG in primary caregivers of schizophrenic patients.Settings and Design:This cross-sectional study was conducted with caregivers of patients with schizophrenia between January 2013 and February 2014 at a mental health hospital.Materials and Methods:The study was carried out on 109 schizophrenic patients followed up at Bakirkoy Prof. Dr. Mazhar Osman Research and Training Hospital for Psychiatry, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, and 109 family members who are the primary caregivers of the patients. All caregivers were evaluated with Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Ways of Coping Inventory, and the Basic Personality Traits Inventory and Religious Orientation Scale.Statistical Analysis:Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney U-test were used in quantitative analysis of data. Spearman's correlation analysis was used in the determination of correlation between variables. Linear regression analysis was used in the determination of predictors of PTG.Results:Optimistic and problem-focused coping, perceived social support (total and all three - family, friends, significant others - domains), personality traits such as extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness to experience, and religiousness were found to be related with PTG. Religiousness, perceived social support, and openness to experience were independent predictors of PTG.Conclusions:Interventions to caregivers of schizophrenic patients on the domains of social support and coping strategies may contribute to caring process in a positive change.