Internet and Psychiatry

Bagley SC, Munjas B, Shekelle P.
Department of Veteran Affairs, Psychiatry, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2010 Jun;40(3):257-65.

Military personnel and veterans have important suicide risk factors. After a systematic review of the literature on suicide prevention, seven (five in the U.S.) studies of military personnel were identified containing interventions that may reduce the risk of suicide. The effectiveness of the individual components was not assessed, and problems in methodology or reporting of data were common. Overall, multifaceted interventions for active duty military personnel are supported by consistent evidence, although of very mixed quality, and in some cases during intervals of declines in suicide rates in the general population. There were insufficient studies of U.S. Veterans to reach conclusions.

Rudaleviciene P, Adomaitiene V, Stompe T, Narbekovas A, Meilius K, Raskauskiene N, Rudalevicius J, Bunevicius R.
Institute of Psychophysiology and Rehabilitation, Kaunas University of Medicine, Lithuania.
Medicina (Kaunas). 2010;46(3):185-92.

This article presents data on the phenomenology of delusions of persecution and poisoning in patients with schizophrenia and determines parallels between sociodemographic status and personal religiosity and this type of delusions. We have studied the content of delusions in patients with schizophrenia looking for persecution and poisoning themes using Fragebogen fuer psychotische Symptome (FPS).

Hill JV, Johnson RC, Barton RA.
1st Infantry Division, Operation Iraqi Freedom II, Tikrit, Iraq.
Mil Med. 2006 Mar;171(3):228-32.

Suicidal and homicidal soldiers present one of the most frequent and challenging scenarios for deployed mental health providers. A chart review of 425 deployed soldiers seen for mental health reasons found that 127 (nearly 30%) had considered killing themselves and 67 (nearly 16%) had considered killing someone else (not the enemy) within the past month.

Reid WH.
J Psychiatr Pract. 2010 Mar;16(2):120-4.

About 35,000 people commit suicide every year in the United States. Almost all are seriously, but treatably, mentally ill. Most come to the attention of a physician, in an emergency room, primary practice setting, or psychiatric hospital or office, during the days, weeks or months before they die. Since 1995, suicide has been the second most commonly reported of all Joint Commission hospital sentinel events (not just psychiatric events).

Kim DR, Pesiridou A, O'Reardon JP.
Perinatal Psychiatry Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2009 Dec;11(6):447-52.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an emerging novel treatment modality for psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression. A device for delivery of TMS was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of major depressive disorder in adults. TMS is being studied for a variety of psychiatric disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia. In this article, we describe TMS and its neurobiologic basis, as well as the efficacy and safety data of TMS with regard to a range of psychiatric disorders.

Pompili M, Serafini G, Innamorati M, Möller-Leimkühler AM, Giupponi G, Girardi P, Tatarelli R, Lester D.
Department of Psychiatry, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Via di Grottarossa, Rome, Italy
Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2010 Feb 20.

Suicidal behavior and mood disorders are one of the world's largest public health problems. The biological vulnerability for these problems includes genetic factors involved in the regulation of the serotonergic system and stress system. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is a neuroendocrine system that regulates the body's response to stress and has complex interactions with brain serotonergic, noradrenergic and dopaminergic systems.